BYD to close purchase of Sanxiang bus firm by Oct

Shanghai, July 14 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese battery and electric car maker BYD Co plans to complete acquisition of Hunan Sanxiang Bus Group from the Midea Group in a three or four month period, the National Business Daily reports Tuesday.

BYD's sales manager Wang Jianjun said that BYD is in acquisition talks with Sanxiang Bus at the present, but the final price of the deal has not been settled.

Wang added that BYD wants to use the bus company's facilities to build new energy buses, with the first batch of them, totaling 1,000 units, set to be delivered to Shenzhen municipal government.

The Hunan Economic Committee said on its website last week that BYD would pay at least 2 billion yuan ($293 million) to acquire Hunan Sanxiang Bus and use Sanxiang's facilities in Changsha to produce sedans, small vans and components.

Industry analysts say both sides are eager to reach a quick agreement on the deal, which would provide much needed new energy bus production base to BYD and in turn, enables Sanxiang to restart its idled plants under new management.

Shenzhen-headquartered BYD is now the world's second-largest producer of rechargeable batteries for mobile phones and the world's largest producer of nickel-cadmium batteries.

BYD F3DM, the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle, was released in December 2008 for sale to government agencies and corporations and will be sold to individuals in the second half of this year.