Canon to acquire Axis Communications for £1.85 billion

In a major acquisition deal in the security space, Canon is set to acquire Axis Communucations. The deal is supposed to close at £1.85 billion. If the deal goes through then Canon’s market will boost into the global big league in the security space. With the acquisition, the company is expected to be worth £27.6bn bn by 2020. Axis had launched the first ever network camera in 1996, not just in surveillance, the value of Axis’ stock has reached 14% this fiscal following Axis’ foray into the access control market. Canon already makes its own security cameras that make up nearly 40 percent of its sales, but with Axis it will gain a broad range of IP-based video surveillance products and an open application platform for third-party app development. According to the agreement, Canon offers to buy Axis shares at 340 kronor each in cash (nearly 50% more than the stock’s closing price, is conditional to a dividend that Axis intends to pay its shareholders). Canon has seen a revenue fall from its traditional camera business for the last three consecutive years, although this has been offset to some extent by rising sales of printers, peripherals and other office products.