April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Pentax Corp., a Japanese camera maker, said some of its executives opposed a merger agreement with Hoya Corp. on April 4, two days before Hoya announced it would raise its takeover bid.

``At a meeting on April 4, some board members proposed that the company terminate the merger plan, and on April 3 there was a motion that the president should resign,'' Jiro Okamura, a spokesman at Tokyo-based Pentax, said today. ``Neither proposal was approved.''

The Nikkei newspaper said earlier today Pentax Chief Executive Fumio Urano intended to resign after six executives proposed to scrap the Dec. 21 merger agreement with Hoya.

Pentax and Hoya, Japan's largest optical glassmaker, said on Dec. 21 Hoya would buy Pentax to create Hoya Pentax HD Corp. on Oct. 1. Hoya was to pay 0.158 of stock, or 709.42 yen, for each Pentax share.

Hoya announced plans on April 6 to increase its offer for Pentax and pay with cash instead of stock to help win shareholder approval. Hoya may offer about 770 yen a share to Pentax shareholders, Tokyo-based spokeswoman Akiko Maeyama said April 6, valuing Pentax at 98.5 billion yen ($830 million). The new offer is 5 percent higher than the April 6 closing price.

Hoya's officials were unavailable for comment today.

Morgan Stanley advised Pentax, while UBS AG advised Hoya.

To contact the reporters on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 8, 2007 03:21 EDT