Sanyo Electric Co Ltd, restructuring with the help of Goldman Sachs, is considering gradually selling most of its loss-making white goods business, Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said on Thursday.

In a related move, Sanyo will also consider selling its stake in Sanyo Electric Logistics Co Ltd, the newspaper said in its evening edition.

Sanyo Electric Logistics is an electronics product distribution company owned 58 percent by Sanyo Electric Co.

A Sanyo spokesman denied the report, saying the company is not considering such a step.

Revenue at Sanyo's white goods business came to 254.2 billion yen ($2.20 billion) in the year ended March 31, accounting for 11 percent of its total sales.

But the division posted an operating loss of 3.8 billion yen due to sluggish air-conditioner and refrigerator sales in the domestic market.

Sanyo has already sold its stake in leasing firm Sanyo Electric Credit Co Ltd to General Electric Co and is in the process of selling its microchip operations, in a bid to focus on core businesses and return to profitability.

Hefty costs to cut thousands of jobs, steep price falls and earthquake damage to a microchip plant have combined to keep the Osaka-based electronics maker in the red on a net basis for the three business years up to March 31 this year.

To bolster its finances, the company issued 300 billion yen worth of preferred shares to Goldman, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp at a deep discount last year.

Daiwa Securities SMBC is a joint venture between Daiwa Securities Group Inc and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG) while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is Sanyo's main bank and an SMFG unit.

Shares in Sanyo, which plans to unveil its new corporate structure and business portfolio in November, closed down 0.6 percent at 179 yen, underperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which fell 0.2 percent.

Sanyo Electric Logistics was unchanged at 1,320 yen.

($1=115.36 Yen)