COVID-19 pandemic pushes back Fujifilm’s $1.6B purchase of rival Hitachi’s imaging line
Fujifilm is pushing back its $1.63 billion (USD) acquisition of fellow Tokyo-based rival Hitachi’s imaging line of products, the companies announced on Thursday.
The Japanese photocopier and camera-making giant had originally hoped to seal the deal in July 2020. However, Fujifilm leaders said they’ll need more time because of “delays in some of the preparations” due to the disease’s spread around the world.
“The new completion schedule has not yet been determined and will be promptly given as soon as fixed,” Fujifilm said in a brief announcement to investors, issued May 28.
Hitachi and Fujifilm first revealed their deal back in December, with the latter looking to add scale to better compete with the top global players in imaging—Siemens, GE Healthcare, Philips and Canon. In recent years, Fujifilm has aimed to bolster its medical offerings to help counter stagnation in traditional consumer-facing business lines.
The company also recently reported earnings results from its fiscal year that ended on March 31. Fujifilm noted a 1.4% decline in revenue in its healthcare business line and a 5.3% drop in operating income, with sales hampered by the pandemic. However, the firm reported favorable sales trends in mammography and mobile x-ray imaging business lines, and expects further growth following the deal’s close.
“We will build a solid business foundation for further growth of the medical systems business by maximizing synergies with the diagnostic imaging-related business to be acquired from Hitachi Ltd.,” the company said in its May 22 earnings announcement.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.