Fujifilm wants to partner with Olympus

TOKYO — Fujifilm Holdings Corp. proposed a partnership with Olympus Corp., the Japanese camera and endoscope maker that lost more than half its market value last year over an accounting scandal.

The Japanese imaging equipment and digital camera manufacturer may invest in Olympus and promote personnel exchanges with the Tokyo-based company after making a proposal to adviser SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said Shigehiro Nakajima, Fujifilm executive vice president.

“We’re the best partner for Olympus,” as Fujifilm can combine its X-ray and ultrasound technology with Olympus’ medical businesses, Nakajima said.

Fujifilm, seeking to expand in health care amid intensifying competition for cameras and copy machines, bought two units of Merck & Co. about a year ago and has completed 21 acquisitions in the past five years, including a $995 million deal for SonoSite Inc., a Bothell, Wash.-based maker of ultrasound imaging equipment. Olympus is seeking a partner to replenish capital cut by the recognition of previously concealed investment losses.

“They would make a good couple,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, an equity analyst at Cosmo Securities Co. in Tokyo, said by phone. “Fujifilm has ample cash and should make use of it.”

The company had cash, near cash and short-term investments worth 296 billion yen as of Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Olympus President Shuichi Takayama earlier this month said he will consider all options to restore capital after slashing net assets 70 percent following revelations that the company had falsified accounts to hide investment losses for more than a decade. Selling preference shares convertible into equity may let the company raise funds at the same time as sidestepping objections from some investors to a sale of common stock.