Olympus is planning to sell its transfer the information and communication business operated by its subsidiary ITX to Japan Industrial Partners in a deal worth JPY53bn ($673m), as the company seeks to rebuild from a huge accounting fraud.
In 2011, Olympus confessed that it had hidden huge investment losses since the 1990s, and has been planning to sell some of its operations excluding its core functionalities of endoscopes, microscopes and cameras.
The sale is expected to be completed on 28 September 2012.
As per the plan, the firm will divide its subsidiary ITX into two, and sell off the unit along with the major mobile-phone retailing operations Japan Industrial Partners while the other half will be owned by Olympus.
The sale is aimed at enhancing the firm’s Medical, Life Science & Industrial, and Imaging businesses.
Besides selling non-core assets, Olympus is also negotiating with various Japanese technology groups, including Sony and Fujifilm, for a potential capital pact.
ITX, an ex-technology incubator, was acquired by Olympus for about JPY60bn ($762m) in multiple transactions during 2000-2011 and it mainly operates retail shops for mobile phone carriers in Japan.
