Olympus Corporation (“Olympus”) and EVIDENT Co., Ltd. ("Evident"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Olympus announced that Olympus concluded a definitive agreement with Bain Capital Private Equity, LP (“Bain Capital”), regarding the transfer of Evident. Based on this agreement, all shares of Evident 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 management base by allocating resources to the Medical business, with a focus on the Endoscopic Solutions and Therapeutic Solutions businesses. The Scientific Solutions business of Olympus was transferred to Evident in April 2022; this decision was concluded to accelerate growth, improve profitability and contribute to the enhancement of 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, the Olympus Scientific Solutions business, conducts business in fields of life science and industrial applications. These fields are underpinned by deeply rooted and strong demand from the global market. Microscopes used for life science support a broad range of academic and clinical research areas, pathology diagnostic services as well as the recently growing demand for drug discovery and fertility treatment. Evident’s Industrial solutions range from microscopes used in the expanding semiconductor sector and electronic components markets to industrial videoscopes and fiberscopes, non-destructive testing equipment, and X-ray fluorescence analyzers used in industrial applications. This wide range of applications include automotive, aviation, metal manufacturing, power generation, precious metal and several other manufacturing and inspection markets.

In light of this favorable market environment, Olympus concluded that it would be in its best interest to transfer all shares of Evident to Bain Capital in order to allow Evident to develop its business with more agile and flexible decision-making based on market needs, leading to further growth as well as to develop more innovative solutions for its customers.

“Bain Capital has a deep understanding of Evident's business value and growth potential. Importantly, they highly appreciate Evident's corporate culture, which has been a valuable asset to Olympus in fulfilling a diverse spectrum of customer needs through the global collaboration and proactive commercialization of cutting-edge technologies,” said Yasuo Takeuchi, President and CEO of Olympus Corporation. “They are capable of providing Evident with a business environment best suited to its business characteristics, which can sustainably maximize its corporate value. I am confident that Bain Capital is the best partner for Evident,” Takeuchi added.

Yoshitake Saito, the President and Representative Director of Evident, commented on the new company’s focus: “Evident will continue under the Bain Capital umbrella to provide its customer base with a broad range of innovative products and services across the globe. On the basis of our long-term expertise, we will expand our digital technologies, including cloud-based solutions, to enhance the customer experience and to improve the overall workflow in several research and inspection fields. With greater management autonomy, we will promote agile and open innovation, which will increase the speed of product development for solving our customers' challenges.”

For more information, visit https://www.olympus-global.com/news/ir/2022/.