Panasonic announced that it will establish a new company to operate its security systems business in Japan and overseas, and that it has reached an agreement for strategic co-investment with Polaris Capital Group. A decision was approved at a board of directors meeting held May 31, 2019.

The security systems business division, which is part of Panasonic’s Connected Solutions company, has a roughly 60-year history of developing security cameras and advanced edge devices, and combining these with software such as facial recognition. 

According to a Panasonic press release, the company is establishing the new company and concluding a co-investment agreement with Polaris in order to achieve stable growth in the security and safety market. 

“The new company will be able to utilize Polaris’ knowledge and experience cultivated from numerous investments into manufacturers and other large scale enterprises,” the press release stated. “It will build on the strengths of the division while benefitting from the management and resources of Polaris to seamlessly implement the necessary structure to operate as an independent organization. Strengthening its solutions capabilities with proactive alliances and mergers and acquisitions, the new company will aim to enhance its revenue and profitability globally centered on the North American market. With new and next generation products and services, and a strategic growth plan to expand sales of medical camera modules, the new company will build a solid foundation as an independent entity with a potential public offering in the future.”

The new company will be formed into an independent entity from the Connected Solutions company’s security systems business division and the industrial and medical vision compact camera R&D department of its Innovation Center. The public safety sales and development functions of Panasonic System Solutions company of North America (PSSNA), and the security camera manufacturing factory in China — Panasonic System Networks Suzhou Co. Ltd. (PSNS) — will become subsidiaries of the new company. 

The new company is planned to start operation on Oct. 1, 2019, assuming approval from relevant government agencies.