Well, Ricoh bought other brands before. What does history tell us?
Ricoh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Quote: In the late 1990s through early 2000s, the company grew to become the largest copier manufacturer in the world. During this time, Ricoh acquired Savin, Gestetner, Lanier, Rex-Rotary, Monroe, and Nashuatec. Although the Monroe brand was discontinued, products continue to be marketed worldwide under the remaining brand names.
So, the company is not eager to put the Ricoh brand name on all products.
Several people already were speculating about a K-mount-module (APS-C and/or FF) for the GXR, when the latter was announced. Now Ricoh bought not only the AF functionality with the PKAF2-mount ... but also the SR-technique. So even an M-module with SR could be a possibility. And given the history of the 43/1.9 special, Pentax is also able to produce lenses for all mounts Ricoh wants to offer.
Does anybody know, whether the TTL from Ricoh is compatible with Pentax TTL? At least from searching on the Metz webpage, this seems not to be the case.
Regarding the hoya document, I found it very interesting that
Quote: The Corporate Split satisfies criteria of a simplified corporate split (kan-i kyushu bunkatsu) under Article 784, Section 3 of the Japanese Companies Act. Therefore, it can be effectuated by a decision of the President without obtaining resolution for the approval from a HOYA shareholders meeting.
So, in principle, there was no need for the President to inform anybody about the deal with Ricoh. Given the current asking price, I still wonder why Fujifilm was no option - or was it?