Olympus Corporation ("Olympus") and Evident Co, Ltd ("Evident"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympus, today announced that Olympus has entered into a definitive agreement with Bain Capital Private Equity, LP ("Bain Capital"), for the transfer of Evident.
Based on this agreement, all Evident shares will be transferred to Bain Capital on January 4, 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
To achieve sustainable growth as a global medical technology company, Olympus is striving to strengthen its foundations by allocating resources to the medical business, with a focus on Endoscopic Solutions and Therapeutic Solutions.
Olympus' Scientific Solutions business was transferred to Evident in April 2022; this decision was made to accelerate growth, improve profitability and contribute to enhancing the corporate value of Olympus as a whole, by establishing management systems that match the characteristics of each business in the medical and scientific solutions fields.
Evident operates in the fields of life, science and industry. These areas are underpinned by deep roots and strong global market demand. Microscopes used for life sciences cover a wide range of fields from academic and clinical research, diagnostic services, pathology as well as the recent growing demand for drug discovery and fertility treatment. Evident's industrial solutions offer a range of microscopes used in the expanding semiconductor and electronics sector, from component markets to industrial videoscopes and fiberscopes, non-destructive testing equipment and X-ray fluorescence analyzers used in industrial applications. This wide range of applications includes automotive, aviation, metal fabrication, power generation, precious metals and many other manufacturing and inspection markets.
In light of this favorable market environment, Olympus has concluded that it would be in its best interest to transfer all Evident shares to Bain Capital in order to enable Evident to develop its business through more agile and flexible decision-making in response to market needs, leading to further growth and the development of more innovative solutions for its customers.
" Bain Capital has a deep understanding of Evident's business value and growth potential. They particularly appreciate Evident's entrepreneurial culture, which has been a valuable asset to Olympus in satisfying a wide range of customers around the world through proactive collaboration and commercialization of cutting-edge technologies. ", said Yasuo Takeuchi, President and CEO of Olympus Corporation. "They are able to provide a business environment best suited to its characteristics that can sustainably maximize its enterprise value. I am convinced that Bain Capital is the best partner for Evident "added Mr. Takeuchi.
Yoshitake Saito, President and CEO of Evident, commented on the company's new objective: " Evident will continue under the aegis of Bain Capital to provide its customers with a wide range of innovative products and services worldwide. Building on our long-standing expertise, we will extend our digital technologies, including cloud-based solutions, to enhance the customer experience and our global process in several areas of research and inspection. With greater management autonomy, we will foster agile and open innovation, increasing the speed of product development to solve our customers' challenges."
Olympus will continue to support Evident in the transfer of the company. In the future, Olympus will focus on the medical field, in its ongoing efforts to make people's lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling.
Evident, guided by its scientific spirit and focus on innovation, will continue to provide and expand its life science services and solutions with its scientific and industrial applications.