Canon expands in market surveillance

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Canon Inc said it plans to buy a machine for security camera Axis AB for approximately 23.6 million Swedish crowns ($ 2.83 billion) to expand the market of surveillance amid weak sales of its cameras.

Canon has announced that it has launched a tender offer to purchase all shares of Axis 340 kronor per share, a premium of nearly 50 percent to their closing price of 226.90 on Monday.

Swedish company said on behalf of the board of directors that unanimously supported the proposal.
Canon already sells surveillance cameras and sees it as a growing market, although not disclose how much money from such products.

The deal came after Canon late last month reported a slight increase in its fourth-quarter profit as the weaker yen and rising sales of office equipment division offset weakness in its cameras.

Axis reported an operating profit for the fourth quarter of 199 million kroner, slightly below analysts' forecasts, but compared with 166 million a year ago. About half of its sales come from the Americas, 40% from Europe, Middle East and Africa, the rest of Asia.