TOKYO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Canon Inc will buy back more of its own shares this year if the price falls, Chairman Fujio Mitarai said in an interview on Tuesday.
The camera and office equipment giant curRently holds about 100 million of its own 1.3 billion existing shares, which it is keeping on hand for use in possible acquisitions, he said.
Mitarai also said the camera and office equipment giant planned to beef up its Asian sales force to more than 10,000 as quickly as possible from the current 3,000, to take advantage of rapid economic growth in the region.
Separately, Mitarai said the company would spend about 20 to 30 billion yen ($240 to $360 million) on building a new toner cartridge plant in Europe, which will likely start production next year.
He also said the company has not been approached about selling its 25 percent stake in Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Displays, after a report late last year that a Foxconn subsidiary was planning to invest more than $1 billion in the unit. (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Reiji Murai; Editing by Joseph Radford)