Xerox to Sell Joint Venture to Fuji Photo,Paper Says ( Update 2 ) By Chris Dolmetsch
Tokyo, Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Xerox Corp. will offer to sell its 50 percent stake in Fuji Xerox Co. to partner Fuji Photo Film Co., a sale that could raise 200 billion yen ($1.84 billion) to 300 billion yen, the
Nihon Keizai reported, citing unnamed people.
The report comes as Stamford, Connecticut-based Xerox, the world's
largest copier company, sells assets valued at as much as $4 billion to
alleviate a credit crunch that has forced it to use a line of credit to fund
its business, analysts said.
``We wouldn't speculate on the accuracy of anything like that,'' said Jeff
Simek, a Xerox spokesman, adding that rumors about company plans
``ranged from the interesting to the absurd.''
Xerox will unveil a plan for restructuring and asset sales on Tuesday
while explaining its first quarterly loss in 16 years. The company used
some of its $7 billion credit line last week after deciding the cost of
borrowing in the commercial paper market was too expensive.
Fuji Xerox sells office equipments such as copiers, printers and office
management software. The company had net income of 12.4 billion yen
for the fiscal year ended December 1999 on revenue of 877 billion yen.
Xerox, once a bedrock investment, has been staggered by competition
and a botched reorganization of the sales force. In early 1999, the
stock traded above $60. Now it's at a little more than $8. Investors
question whether Xerox will do enough to satisfy lenders and investors
that it can remain independent.
``I am quite surprised'' by the Nikkei article, said Masayuki Kato, a Fuji
Photo Film spokesman. ``My speculation is that they (Nikkei) must have
done the reporting in the U.S.''
Fuji Xerox officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Tokyo-based Fuji Photo wants to develop a main profit source beyond
its film business, and will likely seize the chance to exploit Fuji Xerox's
expertise in commercializing products such as printers for digital
cameras, the paper said.
Fuji Xerox, started in 1962 by Fuji Photo and Xerox's British unit,
handles the Asia-Pacific market, excluding China, and ranks third in
Japan's copier market.
Fuji Photo Film shares rose as much as 2.4 percent to 3,860 in morning
trading. |
