Canon has Funds and Willingness for more Acquisitions after Axis, says CEO

Reuters reports:

Chief Executive Fujio Mitarai said his company had the funds and willingness for more acquisitions this year after a planned 23.6 billion Swedish crown ($2.8 billion) takeover of network video surveillance leader Axis AB (AXIS.ST).

Mitarai has been leading efforts to find higher-growth businesses to complement Canon’s imaging expertise, and help the Japanese company expand beyond a camera market under attack from smartphones sporting competitive image-capturing capabilities.

Canon’s offer for Axis represented a premium of nearly 50 percent to the stock price before the announcement, a price some analysts said was high enough to ward off rival bids.

“If you buy a cheap company, you need to spend on drastic restructuring,” Mitarai told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “I only buy good companies, even if they’re expensive.”

Read the rest of the story at Reuters –>