Fujifilm Chief Defends Acquisition Offer as Best for Xerox

May 18, 2018

Tokyo- Fujifilm Holdings Corp. President Kenji Sukeno said Friday that the Japanese company is still eager to acquire Xerox Corp., claiming that its acquisition offer is the best choice for the U.S. printer and copier maker.

"We'll continue to explain that our proposal will serve Xerox's future best," Sukeno told a press conference in Tokyo. "This position won't be shaken."

At the same time, the Fujifilm chief left open the possibility of revising the acquisition offer to win support from Xerox shareholders.

Xerox shareholders opposed to Fujifilm's acquisition are demanding a drastic hike in the special dividends that Fujifilm plans to pay Xerox shareholders for the acquisition.

"We'll consider whether Fujifilm shareholders will benefit" from increasing the planned dividend payments, Sukeno said.

In January this year, Fujifilm announced that it had reached an acquisition deal with Xerox. But the U.S. company unilaterally declared its cancellation of the agreement, due to opposition from its major shareholders.

The acquisition deal "is legally binding," Sukeno stressed at the press conference. "We'll file a lawsuit as soon as possible."

Also on Friday, Fujifilm said that its group net profit in the business year that ended in March grew 7.0 pct from the previous year to a record 140,694 million yen, on sales of 2,433,365 million yen, up 4.8 pct.

The company said that its sales are expected to expand 3.1 pct to 2.51 trillion yen in the current year, but that its net profit is forecast to drop 7.6 pct to 130 billion yen. The projections do not factor in the acquisition of Xerox.

"There's no time limit, and we don't need to hurry to complete the acquisition," Sukeno said. Fujifilm initially aimed to acquire Xerox by the end of September.

He also said Fujifilm plans to promote structural reform at subsidiary Fuji Xerox Co., which is to be integrated with the U.S. firm under Fujifilm's Xerox acquisition scheme. Jiji Press