Japan's Panasonic Corporation has decided to sell the so-called white goods operations of its subsidiary Sanyo Electric to China's Haier Group.

The planned sale of the washing machine and refrigerator operations aims to avoid Sanyo's business overlapping that of its Osaka-based parent firm, Panasonic.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal year, which ends in March 2012. Most of the appliance division's 2,000 or so employees will be transferred to Haier.

Reuters reported that Sanyo units in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand will also be sold.