Too early say if it will invest in Olympus: Fujifilm

Japan's Fujifilm Holdings is watching developments at Olympus Corp, but it is too early to say if it will invest in the rival endoscope maker, a senior executive told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

A newspaper report said last week that scandal-ridden Olympus was seeking to replenish its capital base by issuing about 100 billion yen in preferred shares, and that Fujifilm, Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp were among the firms who may invest. In an interview with Reuters, Kouchi Tamai, the head of Fujifilm's medical systems unit, also said he had several acquisition targets in mind in the healthcare field, where Fujifilm has snapped up a series of firms in recent years and where it is targeting sales of 370 billion yen in fiscal 2013/2014.
It is buying out US-based SonoSite Inc for USD 995 million including debt, a deal which it hopes will make it the world's largest maker of portable ultrasound equipment in three years. Olympus commands 70% of the flexible endoscope market while the rest is held by Fujifilm and Hoya Corp. Tamai also said he was not yet sure whether hospitals would switch away from Olympus' endoscopes following the accounting scandal and how much Fujifilm would benefit if they did.