Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will purchase from General Motors Corp. 8.7 percent of the share of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.

The rest of the 20.1 percent share sold by GM will go to the market, Toyota said.

Toyota and Fuji Heavy said the deal follows a Fuji-GM agreement to terminate their business and capital tie-up concluded in December 1999.

GM, the world's leading automaker, is faced with a considerable drop in car sales amid a global jitters over hovering oil prices.

In contrast, Toyota has made remarkable headway in the industry both in domestic and overseas markets.

The acquisition of the 8.7 percent interest, which will be settled Oct. 12, will make Toyota the biggest stakeholder in Fuji, having some 10 percent of all voting rights.

"It is our best policy to quit the alliance with GM," Fuji Heavy President and Chief Executive Officer Kyoji Takenaka said in a press conference. "We are sure the new tie-up with Toyota, the world's most powerful company, will much contribute to our company 's development in the future."

Toyota Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita said at the same press conference, "Fuji Heavy has very high level of technological prowess."

Source: Xinhua