Few competitors for Fujifilm’s Xerox bid

Carl Icahn may be running out of options in his Xerox play.

Fujifilm, the Japanese copier company that signed a deal to buy its US rival for $6.1 billion — only to have Icahn push to scrap the deal — quietly filed court papers this week saying it might seek to force the merger.

If Fujifilm decides to go forward with the deal — and it told Justice Barry Ostrager it would let him know on June 14 — it could leave Icahn without the more profitable sale he desired.

The activist investor said the Fujifilm deal undervalues Xerox.

Fujifilm may also opt to collect the $183 million termination fee it says it is entitled to without a deal.

Icahn won control of Xerox on May 13, days after the judge said company CEO Jeffrey Jacobson “was hopelessly conflicted” in arranging the Fujifilm merger.

At that point, Icahn had hoped to entice a second bidder from the sidelines. But the most likely suitor other than Fujifilm — HP Inc. — has grown uninterested, sources close to the situation said.

“I think HP is very hesitant about Xerox,” a source with direct knowledge of HP’s thinking said.

HP is trying to reduce its exposure to the part of the copier market Xerox is in, the source said.

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has interest in buying Xerox, but has not determined yet whether it wants to make an offer, a source familiar with its thinking said.

Xerox subcontracts the manufacturing of its printers to Fujifilm in most of the world. Fujifilm both owns and makes Xerox copiers in Asia.

On Friday, Xerox shares gained 17 cents, to $27.35, almost 10 percent below the $30.11 at which it was trading the day before Xerox scrapped the Fujifilm merger.

Icahn and Fujifilm are not yet talking about redoing their deal, sources said.

HP declined to comment. Icahn and Fujifilm did not return calls.