Optos soars on takeover offer from Japanese giant Nikon

Retinal imaging company Optos has recommended a £259m cash offer from Japanese giant Nikon.

The 340p-a-share cash offer values the London-listed company 30% premium to Thursday night's closing price.

Optos directors unanimously recommended the deal, considering the terms of the offer to be fair and reasonable, but Nikon has so far only received irrevocable undertakings over 13.2% of the shares.

Broker Shore Capital said the proposed acquisition of Optos represented "an important step for Nikon as it provides the establishment of a major footprint in the medical segment with a scale platform for future expansion, significant collaboration opportunities in product development, research, manufacturing and marketing, and a platform to expand Nikon's regenerative medical business".

Boasting a market cap of around £3.4bn, Tokyo-based Nikon specialises in the manufacture and sales of optical instruments and is well known for its Coolpix cameras.

Last year Nikon stated an intention to enter the medical sector.