According to a report in the Nikkei Business Daily, Fujifilm Holdings Corp will soon present a capital and business alliance offer to scandal-ridden Olympus Corp.
Fujifilm will argue that its medical systems make it a good match with the manufacturer of digital cameras and endoscopes.
Sony and Panasonic have previously been named as potential investors in Olympus, although Panasonic is reported to have lost interest.
Fujifilm has a 30 percent share in the market for image-sharing systems in hospitals, while Olympus is the clear global market leader in endoscopes, with the remaining market shared by Hoya and Fujifilm.
The report said that Fujifilm is ready to fight any potential legal hurdles arising out of antitrust proposals due to the dominance enjoyed by the two companies in manufacturing endoscopes.
It is still undecided as to what could be the ownership pattern for Fujifilm in Olympus, with the later not willing to give up more than 20 to 30 percent, the Nikkei report said.
Any decisions on the future ownership of Olympus are being delayed by the leadership vacuum, where the scandal-tainted management has said it will not resign until an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in the latter half of April.
The stock is down nearly 50 percent since the company fired its British chief executive Michael Woodford on October 14, triggering a series of stunning revelations in a US$1.7 billion accounting fraud.
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