TOKYO -- Fujitsu will sell Tokyo-listed semiconductor packaging unit Shinko Electric Industries to a consortium led by Japan Investment Corp., the company said Tuesday, shedding another noncore unit in a 700 billion yen ($4.8 billion) deal.

The consortium, which also includes Dai Nippon Printing and Mitsui Chemicals, plans to launch a tender offer for the shares not held by Fujitsu in late August after regulators approve the acquisition. It will pay 5,920 yen per share, a 13% premium from Monday's closing price.

Shinko has expressed its support and recommended that shareholders take the offer.

The unit will buy Fujitsu's 50% stake in a separate transaction. The deal will ultimately take Shinko private, leaving state-owned JIC with 80% ownership, Dai Nippon with 15% and Mitsui Chemicals with 5%.

The sale is part of an ongoing effort by Fujitsu since the mid-2010s to offload operations not related to its central IT business. It sold its mobile device and personal computer businesses in 2018, and Ricoh bought its scanner business last year.

In October 2022, Fujitsu announced its intention to sell three publicly listed units -- Shinko, air conditioner maker Fujitsu General and battery company FDK.

"If we make IT services our core, it'll be harder to put resources toward other areas like electronic components," Chief Financial Officer Takeshi Isobe said of the reorganization. "It's better for their growth if we split them off from us."

Completing this long-running reorganization could spur investors to take a brighter view of Fujitsu, which is grappling with stiffer competition in the IT industry. The company had long led Japan's IT market, but was overtaken by the NTT Data Group in the April-June quarter of this year.

Fujitsu's 9% operating profit margin lags behind those of companies like Nomura Research Institute and Accenture. Unlike its rivals, which mostly specialize in IT, Fujitsu's resources are spread out across a conglomerate structure that includes many manufacturing-related operations.

The company has had serious governance issues as well. Its systems and services have experienced frequent issues -- notably including a failure in 2020 that stopped trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange -- and Fujitsu has not come out with any fundamental changes to address the problem.

Shinko, meanwhile, will work to develop cutting-edge packaging substrates and expand production facilities under JIC's umbrella amid intensifying technological competition in the chip packaging industry.

Shinko is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime market, with a valuation of around 750 billion yen. It ranks as the world's fourth-largest semiconductor packaging company this year, with a 9.2% share of the global market, according to Techno Systems Research.

JIC is focused on promoting structural reform in the industry and boosting international competitiveness. It aims to use the Shinko deal to strengthen supply chains more broadly.

Nikkei staff writers