Xerox to sell Fuji shares

Xerox to sell Fuji shares

TOKYO (AFP): Xerox Corp. will sell shares in Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. to make up for a decline in sales in Europe and the United States, a report said Monday.

The US office supplies giant will announce its plan Tuesday to sell all or part of its stake in Fuji Xerox, a 50-50 office equipment joint venture between Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. and Xerox, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

Xerox will negotiate the size of the stake to be sold with Fuji Photo and if Japan's largest film manufacturer takes the entire 50 percent, it would cost Fuji Photo some 200 to 300 billion yen (US$1.9 to 2.8 billion), the daily said.

Xerox is expected to post a net loss in the July-September period due to sluggish sales in Europe, on the back of a weakening euro and a slump in colour printer sales in the United States, it said.

A spokesman for Fuji Photo declined to comment.

Established in 1962, Fuji Xerox handles the Asia-Pacific market, excluding China. It ranks third in Japan's copier market, after Canon Inc. and Ricoh Co. Ltd, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.