TOKYO, May 31 Kyodo
Hoya Corp. said Thursday it will launch a tender offer worth up to 105
billion yen for Pentax Corp. in June in an attempt to turn the camera maker
into a subsidiary and sharpen its competitive edge in the fast-growing
medical business.
Hoya, the world's leading maker of optical lenses and glass, will offer to
buy each Pentax share for 770 yen, without setting an upper limit of the
shares to be purchased.
After the tender offer, Hoya aims to turn Pentax into a wholly owned unit as
early as November. The two Japanese companies will retain their Hoya and
Pentax brand names.
On Thursday, prior to the official announcements, the stock of Pentax rose
0.51 percent from the previous day to end the day at 776 yen and the stock
of Hoya gained 1.02 percent to 3,940 yen.
Suzuki, however, was not overly optimistic about the future course of the
two companies' integration, saying their negotiations had some ''twists and
turns'' and there remains ''an unpleasant feeling.''
''Bigger worries lie ahead,'' he said, in explaining the importance of
overcoming past emotional conflicts among executives and employees of the
two companies, so as to get the best out of the envisioned integration.
On May 16, Watanuki met with Hoya's Suzuki and told him of the camera
maker's intention to accept the new takeover bid scheme. At the news
conference, Suzuki expressed regret over the prolonged negotiations, saying,
''We have been through a whole fruitless process'' but ended up back where
the two companies started last year.
''We have to rebuild broken things'' at Pentax, he said, as he believes that
the camera maker's corporate value and operations have been damaged in the
course of the troubled talks and by discord in the management.
Hoya is mainly interested in taking advantage of Pentax's optical expertise
in medical products such as endoscopes, but Suzuki promised that the company
will keep its camera business. ''It is not necessary to have a big change
in its camera operations,'' he said. ''But in either case, Pentax needs to
be a niche player as I don't believe that it will be a player that
can compete with Canon and Nikon.''
He stated the view that Pentax needs to concentrate on the development and
production of cameras for users looking for unique features and having a
certain taste, instead of targeting the mass consumer market.
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