In an interview with Reuters, Fuji Xerox president Kouichi Tamai said he believed that breaking up the long-standing joint venture would not be a viable option for Xerox.

“I’m confident a break-up will not happen because that wouldn’t make sense [for Xerox] in terms of the energy, money and time it would take to do so,” he said.

Last month Xerox warned that it might not renew the joint venture and could decide to source products from alternative vendors instead.

Tamai stated: “That would increase costs for Xerox. It is my responsibility to convince Xerox that it is cheaper and more reasonable to source products from us.”

Fuji Xerox was established as a 50:50 joint venture in 1962. Fujifilm increased its stake to 75% in 2001. The operation had sales of $9.6bn (£7.3bn) last year.

As well as multi-function office printers, the Fuji Xerox product range includes production printers such as the Versant and new Iridesse devices.

Tamai added that his own daily interactions with Xerox executives “have given me a feeling that many at Xerox actually support the merger.”

Fujifilm also filed a $1bn damages lawsuit against Xerox last month after the $6.1bn merger deal agreed with the then-Xerox board in January was called off following a high-profile shareholder revolt.