Japan's Canon Inc <7751.T> said it had acquired or been tendered 71 percent of Oce's shares in a takeover bid of the Dutch printer maker that closed Monday, short of its target of 85 percent.

Canon, which offered to buy Oce in November for 730 million euros ($987 million), said it would decide by Thursday whether it would be satisfied with taking a 71 percent stake, extend the tender offer or walk away from the deal.

Canon may extend the offer period but I expect eventually they will declare the offer unconditional, Peter Olofson at Kepler Capital Markets said on Tuesday. I think it is a done deal.

Some Oce shareholders have come out against Canon's 8.6 euro per share offer as too low. Hermes Asset Management and Universities Superannuation Scheme have asked a Dutch court to look into the negotiations between Canon and Oce. The hearing will be on Wednesday.

At 0903 GMT (4:03 a.m. ET), Oce shares were up 1.1 percent at 8.51 euros, below the Canon offer of 8.60 euros but outperforming the Amsterdam midcap-index <.AMX>, which was down 0.3 percent.

Canon shares closed up 0.8 percent at 3,770 yen following the announcement, outperforming the Nikkei average <.N225>, which gained 0.5 percent.

Although this is below the minimal acceptance level of 85 percent, we believe Canon to continue its strategy in order to fully acquire Oce at the current conditions, SNS Securities analyst Maarten Altena said.

Canon's takeover attempt comes amid a flurry of acquisitions in the office equipment industry, including Ricoh Co's <7752.T> takeover of U.S. distributor Ikon Office Solutions and Xerox Corp's purchase of Global Imaging.

Canon, the world's largest digital camera maker and a major producer of copiers and printers, has looked to the Oce deal as a way to generate earnings growth.

Canon's net profit plunged by more than half in 2009 amid a slide in sales due to sluggish demand for office equipment, as corporate clients reined in spending amid the economic slump.

Canon and Oce products have little overlap, with the Japanese company strong in regular office machines and mid- to lower-end production printers while Oce excels in high-end and advertisement-use, large-sized printers, Canon has said.

(Editing by Nathan Layne and Karen Foster)

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