Canon today announced that it has made an offer to the shareholders in the Swedish company Axis AB to tender all their shares in Axis to Canon. While completion of the Offer is subject to a number of conditions, it should be noted that the Offer is friendly in nature and the Board of Directors of Axis has decided to recommend Axis’s shareholders to accept the offer totaling approximately $3.6 Billion AUD. The three largest shareholders in Axis, including the founders, who hold in aggregate approximately 39.5% of the total number of shares and voting rights in Axis, have undertaken to accept the Offer subject to certain conditions. Successful completion of the Offer, which is expected to conclude in early April 2015, Canon become owners of more than 90 per cent of Shares in Axis.
In recent years, the video surveillance system market has continued to realize rapid growth. Canon views its network surveillance camera business as a promising new business area and positions the business as a driving force for future growth within the Canon Group. Canon would be pleased to welcome Axis, the global leader in the network video solutions industry, into the Canon Group.
According to David Klineberg, Senior General Manager Canon Specialised Imaging at Canon Australia, “Canon has identified Network Video Solutions leadership as a key strategic priority in recent years. This move reinforces Canon’s commitment to that strategic goal. The recent acquisition of Milestone and now Axis will provide Canon with a superb combination of brand and IP!”
Klinberg goes on to state that, “It is important to point out that Axis will continue operating independently following the successful completion of the acquisition. It will be business as usual.”
The combination of Canon’s excellent optical and imaging technologies and Axis’s outstanding network image processing technology will enable both companies to offer innovative, sophisticated network video solutions. Furthermore, by making use of Canon’s wide range of research and development capabilities and manufacturing technologies, Axis will be able to boost product competitiveness.
Furthermore, as Canon and Axis each own intellectual property in different technology fields, it is envisioned that together, the combined intellectual property portfolio will be strengthened across a broad area of technologies, allowing leveraged product development which will contribute to an increased ability to introduce new and innovative products, solutions and services to the market.
To date, Canon has created a global distribution and service network for its camera products and business equipment. Additionally, Axis has a well-established worldwide network of 75,000 business partners, including system integrators. With Axis joining the Canon Group, Canon will be able to add Axis’s distribution and service channels for network system products.
