Konica and Minolta join forces in merger

Japanese imaging and office equipment makers Konica and Minolta have agreed on a $1.6bn merger plan to result in a joint holding company with some $11bn in annual sales, the Financial Times reports.
“The two companies are in talks concerning a merger,” Minolta spokesman Ichiro Shirai said.
Konica and Minolta are facing a fierce competition on their specific markets and that is precisely why they have decided to focus on office equipment and imaging, after being left behind by rivals Sony and Canon on the digital camera market.
How will the Konica-Minolta merger impact on the Romanian market?
“It is hard for me to tell how things will stand on the domestic market. We might decide on a co-operation strategy with the Minolta representatives,” Dorimell Popescu, general manager of Photo Trade Romania, sole authorised importer of Konica imaging products in Romania told Ziarul Financiar. 
“The operations of the two companies complement each other on the Romanian market. Minolta is specialised in distribution of digital cameras, photo cameras and copiers, while the sales and promotion of Photo Trade have focused on photo film, with cameras sold only as means to support the main product – the film,” Popescu added.
Monica Otlacan, Minolta Romania marketing manager, in her turn told Ziarul Financiar the effects of Minolta’s takeover by Konica on the Romanian market were yet unknown.
“The mother-company in Vienna is to notify us of a decision in this regard over the next few days,” she specified. Otlacan said Minolta Romania’s 2002 unaudited results showed a 9.5 million euro turnover, that is 11% higher than in 2001. Minolta Romania accounts for 26% of the copiers market and is the leader of this market, second only to Canon.