Pentax: New President and CEO as board votes down Hoya merger
By
Mike Tomkins
(Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 15:13 EDT)
Following on from yesterday's news, the board of Pentax Corp. has voted against accepting a planned deal to merge with Hoya Corp. in a share swap arrangement.
According to a Reuters article, Pentax's board has indicated that it would still consider a sweetened deal that would see Hoya take control via a tender bid or by forming a joint venture. Hoya had previously suggested that it is considering a tender bid of ¥770 per Pentax share, but the company's board has yet to meet to approve the offer.
Meanwhile, as predicted earlier Pentax President and Chief Executive Officer Fumio Urano has stepped down, as has Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Katsuo Mori. The Pentax board has already voted in Urano's replacement, 54 year old Takashi Watanuki - previously a company Director, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Component Business Division. Mori's replacement hasn't yet been announced. Both Urano and Mori will retain Director positions with Pentax.
The newly appointed President and CEO Takashi Watanuki graduated from Waseda University, Graduate School of Science and Engineering with a Master's Degree in March 1978, and joined Asahi Optical Co. Ltd. (the predecessor of Pentax Corp.) in April of the same year. Highlights of Watanuki's 29 year long career with the company include his appointment as General Manager of Asahi Optical Philippines Corporation in November 1995, followed by his appointment as President two years later when the company's name had changed to PENTAX Cebu Philippines Corporation. Among a number of later appointments, he was made Vice President of Pentax Corp. in June 2003, and became a Director and Corporate Vice President of the company in June 2004.
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