Nissan to sell 41 percent stake in Calsonic Kansei to KKR - Nikkei

(Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> will sell 41 percent of its stake in auto parts supplier Calsonic Kansei Corp <7248.T> to U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co , the Nikkei reported. KKR will launch a tender offer to obtain all outstanding shares in Calsonic for about 400 billion yen (2.88 billion pounds), the Japanese newspaper reported. Calsonic is said to receive nearly 200 billion yen in proceeds, which will be used for the development of new safety and environmental technologies, the report said. KKR's Calsonic deal will be announced on Tuesday, according to the Nikkei. Calsonic, which makes air conditioning units, compressors and radiators, posted an operating profit of 38.24 billion yen on sales of 1.05 trillion yen for the year ended March 31. More than 80 percent of Calsonic's sales come from Nissan, the newspaper said. Nissan and KKR were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)