Japan’s Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., said Wednesday that it will end its joint development agreement with Oce NV ahead of rival Canon Inc.’s takeover of Europe’s top printer manufacturer.
Since teaming up last April, the duo have been co-developing high-speed digital printers
. They have also been supplying each other with office printers and commercial-use high-speed digital printers. The supply deal with Oce is worth around 15 billion yen (US$167.13 million) a year.
Konica Minolta and the Dutch firm will continue to supply each other with products for the time being, despite ending the joint development agreement.
“The termination of the alliance will only have a very limited impact on Konica Minolta’s business performance,” the Japanese manufacturer said in a statement.
Canon announced plans to acquire a 100 per cent stake in Oce last November. In January, it launched a tender offer, which ends next month.
