Hitachi Ltd. announced Dec. 18 that it has agreed to sell its entire stake in Hitachi Chemical Co. Ltd. to Showa Denko K.K. subsidiary HC Holdings K.K. in a roughly ¥494 billion deal, confirming earlier reports.

Under the deal terms, Hitachi will sell all of its 106,699,955 shares in the chemical unit, translating to a more than 51% stake, at ¥4,630 apiece, in response to the Japanese chemical company's tender offer, which is expected to begin in February 2020 and extend for a period of 20 days.

The sale of its chemical unit, which provides semiconductor-related products, would allow Hitachi to focus on the manufacture of high-functional materials.

Following the transaction, which Hitachi expects to conclude by the next fiscal year, the Japanese industrial conglomerate estimates extraordinary gains of ¥478.0 billion on the sale. It also expects to post ¥278.0 billion in gains on business reorganization and other transactions.

Hitachi reportedly initiated the sale process in July.

The sale of Hitachi's chemical arm comes shortly after a ¥179 billion sale of its diagnostic imaging device unit to FUJIFILM Holdings Corp. as the company accelerates its efforts to reorganize its business.

As of Dec. 17, US$1 was equivalent to ¥109.53.