Ricoh has purchased Pentax Imaging

[trw]

<p><a href="http://www.ricoh.com/release/2011/1001_1.html">Ricoh has purchased Pentax Imaging.</a></p>

[mountainvisions]

<p>Uh, completed the purchase. This all started several months ago, Oct 1st was the transfer date.</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>A couple of items that were interesting, at least to me.<br>

1. The legal name is now Pentax Ricoh. I hope they continue with using "Pentax" as the marketed brand. The former reminds me of Konica Minolta which never felt right.<br>

2. Ricoh seems to have also obtained the biocompatible ceramics line of business from Hoya. To this civilian it looks like a fascinating material. Maybe it can make them money too.</p>

<p>ME</p>

[r.t. dowling]

<p>Mr. Moderator (and/or the site admin), perhaps changing this forum's name to Pentax/Ricoh is in order...? I'm sure the Ricoh folks would appreciate finally having a specific area for their topics, too.</p>

<p>M.E., wasn't their previous legal name "HOYA Pentax HD Corporation, LTD" or something like that? I imagine they'll continue using Pentax as their brand name, just as they did throughout the HOYA years.</p>

[michael_kuhne]

<p>I think it's a great name. The Pentax brand has long been associated with fine imaging optics and cameras of innovative design. The Ricoh name has been around for quite a while, and has been successful in a diverse line of products. Ricoh has had an ongoing interest in photography, has put forth some good lenses, and chose to use the K-mount. I think this will be a good thing. </p>

[14mm 2.8l]

<p>Pentax<br />Ricoh<br />Imaging<br />Company<br />K mount system !</p>

<p>Seeing this bold move from Ricoh, I fully expect them to stick it to Canikon !</p>

<p><br />;^)</p>

<p> </p>

[r.t. dowling]

<p>D'oh!</p>

[mountainvisions]

<p>I'm not quite sure we need to change the name just yet. After all, this was also a forum for Samsung cameras and we never needed to be so explicit.</p>

<p>Ricoh, doesn't have a DSLR with it's name on it, and there is a compact camera section here.</p>

<p>That said, I don't think Doug or I will be booting anyone for mentioning Ricoh cameras in this forum. Let's see how this plays out and go from there!</p>

[r.t. dowling]

<p>Right, good points, but Pentax and Samsung never merged, and seemed to have a rather odd partnership. I was thinking along the lines of the Minolta forum, which eventually became the Konica/Minolta forum, and is now the Sony/Minolta forum. Merely a suggestion. :)</p>

[michael_elenko]

R.T., Hoya's acquisition of Pentax was an asset sale. Pentax as an independent entity ceased to exist. It was only a brand.

 

To transfer the brand's negotiated assets to Ricoh, Hoya just created a Pentax stock corp. and transferred the shares to

Ricoh. It seems like Ricoh is preserving Pentax as a legal subsidiary. This both ensures some sense of independence for

Pentax, which seems more suitable for a company with their history and accomplishments.

 

It also makes transferring all or part ownership of the entity a little easier to do.

 

ME

[stemked]

<p>Hi R.T.<br>

Good points, Maybe a name change will be in order down the road. Let's see how they treat our baby first though. I'm kinda' glad we didn't make this the Pentax-Hoya forum whatever the technical differences are in this acquisition.</p>

[mountainvisions]

<blockquote>

<p>I'm kinda' glad we didn't make this the Pentax-Hoya forum whatever the technical differences are in this acquisition.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Doug, you know how much I hated Pentax under Hoya...don't even joke about the Pentax-Hoya forum!</p>

<p>I am excited though about Ricoh, I've lusted after several of their compacts and they seem to be a company that fits in with Pentax.</p>

<p>i know M.E. is skeptical, but we'll see. If I'm right, everyone wins. If M.E. is right, we all lose as another competitor bites the dust.</p>

[shots worth sharing]

<p>If I'm not mistaken. Ricoh is publicly-traded (as Hoya was not) and the stock was up today. </p>

[stemked]

<p>Way back when I thought about adding a Ricoh K-mount SLR to my line up; it was a better deal than what Pentax had at the time. I think I got a Super Program instead. Anyway I had a friend who love the camera. Seems like this was part of a long term plot to make us love the company ;)<br>

I know, I know, its another era. Hope they come out with a mirror-less body soon (before Christmas, hint hint)</p>

[paul_noble]

<blockquote>

<p>R.T., Hoya's acquisition of Pentax was an asset sale. Pentax as an independent entity ceased to exist. It was only a brand.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Not quite true. Hoya corp. offered to buy all outstanding shares of the Pentax Corp. on the open market. More than 50 percent of the shares were tendered and Hoya bought them. That gave them controlling interest in Pentax Corp. Pentax Corp. continued to exist for a while. The point is that Hoya didn't just buy the assets of Pentax corp. it assumed all of its liabilities, as well. That is a subtle but important difference.</p>

<p>Hoya could have acquired Pentax by buying, for example, the factories in Vietnam and the Philipines, along with the trademark name "Pentax". THAT would be an asset sale. No shares of Pentax need have been transferred. In fact, though, Hoya DID buy the outstanding shares of Pentax.</p>

<p>After several months, Hoya merged Pentax corp. into itself. Any Pentax shares that remained in private hands would have been converted to Hoya stock. At that point, Pentax corp. ceased to exist and Pentax became simply a brand name, rather than a corporate name.</p>

<p>In order to sell Pentax Imaging to Ricoh, Hoya set up a shell company and, over the last three months, transferred the appropriate assets to the shell. Today, Hoya and Ricoh closed the deal and ownership of the shell, now known as Pentax-Ricoh Corporation, passed to Ricoh as a wholly owned subsidiary. It is sort of the reverse of the Hoya purchase of Pentax.</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Paul, thanks for the corrections. That's enlightening.</p>

<p>ME</p>