TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp will likely invest more than 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in a liquid crystal display TV panel venture to be formed with Sharp Corp, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

Sony and Sharp have been in talks to set up a joint venture, with Sony to shoulder part of 380 billion yen to be invested in a Sharp LCD production facility in Sakai, western Japan.

The two companies will likely finalize a deal by the end of July. The agreement was due to be completed last month but was postponed due to the economic downturn, the Nikkei said.

A subsidiary established by Sharp in April to manage the operation of a plant in Sakai will be converted into a joint venture by March next year, with Sony taking a 34 percent stake in it, the newspaper said.

Sony's investment will initially be 50-60 billion yen and will likely total more than 100 billion yen, the Nikkei said.

Representatives for Sony and Sharp said nothing has been decided and declined to comment further.

The Sakai plant will be the world's first LCD panel production facility capable of handling 10th-generation glass substrates, the largest available.

($1=95.03 Yen)

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta in Bangalore and Nathan Layne in

Tokyo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)