Japan: Fujifilm could abandon Xerox merger

Japan’s Fujifilm said on Thursday, June 7, it may have no choice but to abandon a US$6.1 billion merger with Xerox  if there is no progress in talks with the US firm’s new board for about half a year, reported The Wall Street Journal.

“I don’t have a specific deadline in mind, but it should normally be from several months to six months. If we have nothing by then, it can’t be helped,” Chief Executive Shigetaka Komori said in his first media session since the US photocopier company scrapped their merger deal.

The two companies in January agreed to a complex deal that would merge Xerox into their 56-year-old Asia joint venture Fuji Xerox, which Fujifilm would control with a 50.1% stake.

But Xerox scrapped the deal last month in a settlement after various complaints and pressure from activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who opposed the takeover by Fujifilm saying it undervalued the US company.

Full Content: The Wall Street JournalThe Globe and Mail

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