Olympus and Sony Form Business and Capital Alliance

Olympus and Sony Form Business and Capital Alliance

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Tokyo, Japan—Olympus Corporation and Sony Corporation entered into a business alliance agreement and a capital alliance agreement through a third-party allotment of Olympus’s common shares to Sony.

“Olympus has been pushing to enhance its financial strength and weighing the possibility of a business and capital tie-up for greater business synergy in the core business domains of medical and imaging,” explained Hiroyuki Sasa, president, Olympus Corporation. “In this regard, we have decided to form a business and capital alliance with Sony, which is strong in image sensors and other image-related technologies.

“Partnering with Sony will provide great advantage to Olympus and enable the two companies to exchange various complementary competencies. Investment from Sony will help strengthen our financial base. In addition, through this alliance, the strengths of the two companies will merge, certainly making it possible for Olympus to contribute to world medical progress by developing a variety of new medical devices that would not be possible by Olympus alone. In the field of digital cameras, we will seek to achieve collaboration in a manner that further improves the competitiveness of the two companies.”

Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO, Sony Corporation, also commented on the agreement: “[A]t Sony we are aggressively pursuing the growth of our medical business, with the aim of developing it into a key pillar of our overall business portfolio. The business and capital alliances we have agreed with Olympus today will be integral to these plans.

“We also believe there are many potential opportunities for collaboration between Olympus and Sony’s digital camera businesses, and are confident that by building on our respective strengths we can also enhance and grow our presence in this market. All of us at Sony will spare no effort to ensure that the business and capital alliances, including Sony’s investment in Olympus, will be a resounding success for both companies.”

Additionally, the two companies aim to enhance their competitiveness, primarily in the area of compact digital cameras, by exploring opportunities for mutually beneficial transactions and collaboration between their respective camera businesses, including the supply of Olympus technologies, such as camera lenses and mirror cells, to Sony and the provision of Sony image sensors to Olympus.

Sony holds 100,000 common shares of Olympus (0.04% of outstanding shares with voting rights). The new shares to be issued to Sony by Olympus began allotment on October 23, 2012, with completion scheduled for February 28, 2013. According to the agreement, Sony is not deemed to be a related party of Olympus, and Olympus is not deemed to be a related party of Sony. sony.com and olympusamerica.com

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