Pentax Corp., Tokyo, Japan, agreed to a takeover offer by worth up to about ¥105 billion (US$864 million) by rival Hoya Corp. on Thursday, a move that underlines the growing influence of shareholders, says The Associated Press.

Hoya is offering ¥770 (US$6.34) a share for the Pentax shares, and plans to start the tender offer to shareholders in early June, with the goal of making Pentax a wholly owned unit, both sides said. Details, including the deadline for the offer, will be announced later, the companies said in a joint statement.

Pentax management had resisted a stock-swap offer last year from Hoya, a Tokyo-based optics and glass maker, which had coveted Pentax’s medical equipment expertise, says the AP.

The companies originally agreed to merge in December 2006, but Pentax scrapped the plan in April. Under pressure from shareholders, Pentax released a mid-term business plan, but that failed to convince investors and analysts, and the latest announcement ends more than a month of wrangling.

Hoya President and Chief Executive Hiroshi Suzuki said the tender offer is Hoya’s biggest acquisition ever. Suzuki said he plans to make Pentax a wholly-owned unit by November, and will maintain Pentax’s camera operations. The tender offer will be a friendly one, but a hostile takeover had been a possibility had the two companies failed to agree, he continued.

The offer comes amid increasingly tough competition as more traditional camera makers, including Pentax and Nikon Corp., are struggling against electronics companies such as Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. to gain the lead in digital cameras, says the AP.

Download : Pentax agrees to $864 million takeover offer by Hoya (PDF Joint Statement)