After years of on-off talks, Taiwan’s Foxconn has finally agreed a deal to acquire Japan’s troubled electronics firm Sharp. It will pay ¥389bn ($3.5bn) for a 66% holding, a price which was reduced by about $900m at the last minute because of unexpectedly high liabilities and worse than anticipated earnings for Sharp’s fiscal year to March 2016. Unlike the acquisitions, highlighted in this issue, of hopeful innovators in growth markets, this is a deal between two members of the electronics establishment, whose traditional models have come under intense pressure from new competition and technical change. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, has been diversifying its activities beyond its contract manufacturing business, to boost growth and margins and to…