Japan’s Olympus Corp., still struggling to get out from under the shadow of its previous financial scandal dismissal of CEO Michael Woodford, is now planning to raise as much as 50 billion yen (approx. $638 million) by relying on third-party share allotment. The camera and medical equipment manufacturer is now dealing with an equity ratio of 4.6% of total assets, the result of attempting to correct years of falsified accounts tied to the $1.7 billion fraud scandal.
This news comes right after a Nikkei business report that Olympus could try to boost finances by issuing almost 100 billion yen ($1.28 billion) in new shares. Other Japanese electronics manufacturers, giants Sony and Panasonic, have been seen as becoming very interested in investing. On Tuesday, an Olympus spokesman made a statement that both of these findings were not based on anything announced by the company.
However, Hiroyuki Sasa, the newly appointed Olympus president, did say last month that the company was looking into any and all options of increasing funds, and that did include equity tie-ups and share allocations. Many are expecting the firm to have a briefing on business strategy this Friday.