Sony picks up 11% Olympus stake for $640M | Wall Street Beat

Sony Corp. plans to acquire an 11% stake in beleaguered Olympus Corp. for $642 million.

Sony Corp. [1] (TYO:6758 [2]) plans to become the largest shareholder in Olympus [3] (TYO:7733 [4]) with a $642 million investment that will give it an 11% stake in Olympus.

Olympus, which has a corner on 70% of the endoscope market, was rocked by a $1.7 billion accounting scandal exposed by former CEO Michael Woodford last year.

In accepting the Sony offer, Olympus spurned a similar bid [5] from rival Terumo Corp. [6] (TYO:4543 [7]), likely because Olympus wants to retain as much independence as possible, Reuters [8] reported.