Olympus America, the U.S. operation of the well-known Japanese camera-maker, wants to enter the asset-backed market by securitizing lease collateral from its medical and industrial equipment businesses, and is looking for help to put these plans into action, asset-backed accounting and consulting people familiar with Olympus's plans said.
Spurred on by a call from an unnamed accounting firm, one source confirmed that Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is interested in participating in Olympus's future securitization business, and as of last week was looking for background information on the company.
"It looks like they're considering a deal," the source said. "They're talking to people at this point to see what the deal might look like." However, the source said, because the talks are in the preliminary stage, there is no word on deal size or timing.
Olympus officials did not return phone calls.
The company, based in Melville, N.Y., has a large product line of diagnostic, surgical and exploratory equipment that it leases to medical professionals and facilities. In addition, it markets itself as the "leading manufacturer of inspection equipment for complex machinery such as aircraft turbines, diesel engines and pipelines," and leases its production printers, scanners, dictation devices and diagnostic systems equipment to companies and industry throughout the U.S.
