Pentax Corp. said Friday that it is strongly opposed to a proposal made by its top shareholder, Sparx Group Corp., that it reappoint as board directors two officials who favor a merger with optical glass maker Hoya Corp.
Sparx is supportive of the proposed merger between Pentax and Hoya. Its proposal about the board member appointments is effectively a call for the resignation of Pentax President Takashi Watanuki and other directors in addition to the call for restoring the two promerger executives to their former positions.
The two officials backed by Sparx -- former President Fumio Urano and Senior Managing Director Katsuo Mori -- were earlier forced to resign their posts after disagreeing with other top managers about the proposed merger.
In response, Pentax said it is against the reinstatement of the two officials on grounds that the tactics they used to push for the merger were heavy-handed and unfair.
Urano and Mori remain Pentax board members after resigning from their respective posts.
An upcoming shareholders' meeting is scheduled to take up the selection of board members, because the terms of all eight members will expire.