Reuters reports that Pansonic is keeping quiet on speculation it is to buy rival electronics manufacturer Sanyo in a deal that would create Japan’s largest electronics maker. Reports over the weekend said Panasonic will likely make an announcement on the agreement soon, although Panasonic told Reuters it had not decided anything in regards to a purchase. A joint company would have revenues of ¥11.22 trillion (US$112 billion), according to their forecasts for the year ending March 2009.

Panasonic is best known as the world’s largest plasma TV maker, but is also a leading mobile handset manufacturer in Japan. In April the vendor celebrated shipping its 100 millionth mobile device, having established domestic operators NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank as customers over the last few years. Meanwhile Sanyo exited the mobile phone business earlier this year when rival Kyocera bought its loss-making business for approximately US$400 million.