Konica Minolta plans $900M takeover

Diversifying with genetics firm purchase

• Konica Minolta, the Japanese manufacturer of photocopiers and printers, is preparing to announce a US$ 900- million deal to acquire the U. S. testing company Ambry Genetics, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The acquisition would be the largest ever for Konica Minolta, which is trying to diversify its business and increase its presence in fast- growing industries. Like other Japanese technology companies, it has also been scrambling for growth abroad.

Ambry Genetics specializes in genetic testing and in analyzing large databases of genetic information to screen for diseases like cancer. In an unusual move, it decided last year to make public information based on data from thousands of people it had tested, a move it said would aid drug research and other efforts to combat diseases.

Konica Minolta will pay roughly US$ 880 million, for Ambry, according to the people with knowledge of the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.

An announcement was expected Thursday, and the companies hope to complete the transaction by the end of the year. Ambry Genetics declined to comment.

The Japanese government is helping to drive the diversification efforts. A statebacked investment fund, the Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, is teaming up with Konica Minolta in the Ambry acquisition. According to the people familiar with the deal, Konica Minolta would take a 60-per-cent share in Ambry, with the rest to be acquired by the fund.

Ambry, which is privately held, would retain its current leadership, these people said. The management team includes the company founder and chairman, Charles Dunlop, who has said his own experience with prostate cancer — now in remission — influenced his decision to make public anonymized information from Ambry’s database.

Pooling data from many people is considered crucial to finding genetic elements that contribute to illnesses.

For Konica Minolta, the acquisition would confirm the acceleration of efforts to diversify beyond photocopiers and printers, areas where revenue and profit have been shrinking.

The Japanese company has identified health care, and cancer screening in particular, as a possible mainstay of its business. It has been developing its own cancerdetecting technology using light-emitting nanoparticles to mark proteins that are drawn to cancer cells.

Other Japanese businesses have tried similar expansions. Fujifilm — which, built a name in photography — has established a profitable health care and cosmetics division, helping it survive the end of the analog film era.