Mergers and Acquisitions
Konica, Minolta To Launch Holding Company
Provided By Pinnacor, 08.04.03, 10:58 AM ET
Camera and office equipment makers Konica and Minolta will launch a new holding company Tuesday for the integration of their business operations scheduled for Oct. 1 in line with their plans announced in January.
The holding company, Tokyo-based Konica Minolta Holdings, will be established through an equity swap and challenge the top three leaders in the precision instrument industry -- Canon (nyse: CAJ - news - people ), Fuji Photo Film (nasdaq: FUJIY - news - people ) and Ricoh (otc: RICOY - news - people ).
The operations of Konica and Minolta are due to be regrouped in eight business sectors, including the camera and communications equipment divisions, and placed under the control of the holding company.
The two firms will cut 4,000 jobs, or about 10% of their combined workforce, on a group basis by 2005.
Konica Minolta Holdings is expected to post consolidated sales of more than 1 trillion yen after sales totaled 559 billion yen at Konica and 528.1 billion yen at Minolta on a group basis.
However, industry analysts said the performances of the two companies' photo copier and digital camera businesses lag far behind the leaders and the merged company is expected to remain in a tough environment.
In the initial phase of the integration, the new company plans to push for sales promotion of Minolta's office-use color printers and Konica's optical equipment parts, both of which have a competitive edge in their respective markets.
2003 Kyodo News (C) Established 1945
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