(twice) reports that kenwood has agreed to merge in 2008 with victor company of japan (jvc) under a holding company. jvc is owned by matsushita electric industrial company. japan's nikkei business newspaper reports that the final details should be worked out by the end of the month, and that under the plan, kenwood will buy 20 billion yen ($161,469,466) in jvc shares as early as this summer, raising its stake to 13 percent. matsushita will also sell part of its 52.7 percent of jvc to kenwood's top shareholder, the sparx group. when jvc and kenwood integrate operations under the holding company in 2008, matsushita will sell the rest of its jvc shares to the holding company to complete the transaction. the holding company's stock will be listed instead of kenwood and jvc, according to nikkei. combined, kenwood's and jvc's sales are $7.3 billion dollars annually for their fiscal year that ended march 31.