New York hedge fund Elliott Management disclosed it had a 7.5 percent stake in Swedish surveillance camera maker Axis AB (AXIS.ST), potentially raising pressure on Japan’s Canon Inc (7751.T) to raise its bid for the firm. Elliott Management has recently increased its stake in Axis to 10.91 percent and has not yet sold those shares to Canon.

Axis shares rose as high as 343.10 crowns ($39.84) on March 27 after the initial disclosure, above the 340 crown price Canon offered when it launched its bid in February to buy all Axis shares. That represented a nearly 50 percent premium to the share price at the time.

Canon shares traded in Tokyo closed up 1.3 percent on March 27 at 4,253 yen, their highest close in more than four years and outperforming a 1 percent drop in Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei average .N225.

One banker said it was expected that Canon would have prepared for the possibility of a fund actively maneuvering for a higher price.

When Canon launched its takeover of Dutch copier maker Oce in 2009, it eventually sweetened its price for shares owned by Orbis Portfolio Management after the fund opposed the deal.

The Axis acquisition is contingent on Canon taking over more than 90 percent of the Swedish company’s shares.

Canon now owns 84 percent of Axis shares. On April 24, Canon extended the offer period a second time, from the original April 15 to May 5. Canon said it would neither extend the offer period again nor raise its offer price.

The deal is essentially done, stated Canon Global spokesman Richard Berger.

?With the settlement on April 15 for the 75.46 percent of the shares that had been acquired following the initial acceptance period, which concluded on April 1, Axis has already become a Canon subsidiary,? he said.

Axis Americas GM Fredrik Nilsson said he could not comment beyond saying: ?Canon now owns the majority of the shares in Axis and will control Axis. Axis will be run as a separate legal entity reporting to Canon CEO in Tokyo. Additionally, Axis and Milestone will be run as separate legal entities.?

Elliott’s stake was disclosed in a filing with Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority. The fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its intentions. Canon also declined to comment.