Apple supplier Foxconn has put the final seal on its $3.8 billion takeover of Japanese electronics giant Sharp, but the involvement of multiple stakeholders and multijurisdictional antitrust views made the deal a challenging one.

Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology completed the acquisition on August 12, more than four months after the deal was announced, following antitrust clearance from Chinese authorities.  

Lawyers involved in the deal explained that there were long timeframes in which the antitrust reviews were processed by regulators from four different jurisdictions: Europe, China, Japan and Taiwan.    

"The antitrust reviews by various authorities were anticipated and all counsels in various jurisdictions involved tried their best to expedite the process," said Hajime Ueno, partner at Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo. The reviews took longer than the parties had hoped.

Under the agreement reached by both sides, Foxconn would acquire a 66% stake in Sharp for a...