Renesas CEO says acquisition by Infineon unlikely

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp's CEO said an acquisition by Germany's Infineon Technologies was unlikely as he believed its top shareholder, a government-backed fund, would not sell a majority stake to a foreign buyer. The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) owns around 70 percent of Renesas and, based on an earlier agreement with the company made at its initial investment, will be free to sell some or all of its stake from September. "I don't think INCJ would sell a majority of Renesas shares to overseas buyers," Renesas Chief Executive Takao Endo told Reuters in an interview on Monday. An INCJ official said last week regarding investment in Sharp Corp that the fund would not consider deals resulting in losing technology abroad. Infineon said late last month that its integration of International Rectifier, which it bought for $3 billion, was ahead of schedule, leaving it free to consider its next move in a rapidly consolidating industry. The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Infineon had shown interest in Renesas. A wave of consolidation is reshaping the chip sector. Over $80 billion worth of M&As have been announced in 2015 including NXP Semiconductors NV's purchase of Freescale Semiconductor Inc, and ON Semiconductor Corp's deal for Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. Chipmakers are acquiring peers to expand capacity and capabilities in part because of an expected explosion in demand for all kinds of semiconductors necessitated by the Internet of Things - where chips are installed in everyday goods. Renesas' Endo said a capital tie-up of some form with Infineon was possible. "But becoming part of them isn't a possibility," he said. (Reporting by Reiji Murai; Writing by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Christopher Cushing)