Sharp has struggled with heavy debts and has been through two major bailouts

Struggling Japanese electronics giant Sharp says it has accepted a multi-billion dollar takeover bid by Taiwanese multinational Foxconn.

The announcement came as Sharp's board completed a two-day meeting to discuss competing offers to buy the company.

Foxconn assembles most of the world's iPhones. It initially offered about $5.3bn to take over Sharp before raising its offer to $5.9bn.

Sharp employs 50,000 globally and makes TVs, tablets and display screens.

It had considered several rival offers including one from government-backed investment fund Innovation Network Corp of Japan.

Japanese officials had been worried about letting Sharp fall under foreign ownership because of the technology used in its display panels.

Shares in Sharp have been issued to Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group. They were continuing to trade under the name Sharp Corporation after the takeover announcement and were down as much as 14% at one point in Tokyo trade.

Struggling firm

Earlier this month, as it was considering several takeover offers, Sharp posted a bigger-than-expected net loss of $918m (£630m) for the April-to-December period.

In 2012, the firm came close to entering bankruptcy. It has struggled with heavy debts and has been through two major bailouts in the last four years.

Foxconn first offered to invest in the troubled Japanese firm in 2012, but talks collapsed.