HP Inc acquires Samsung's printer business for $1.05 bn

In the largest ever print acquisition in HP Incs history to accelerate growth opportunities in the copier segment, the company on Monday announced a definitive agreement to acquire Samsung Electronics Co Ltds printer business for $1.05 billion.

The acquisition, which aims at reinventing and replacing service-intensive copiers with superior multi-function printing (MFP) technology, positions HP to disrupt the $55 billion copier industry -- a segment that has not been innovated in decades.

"When we became a separate company just 10 months ago, it enabled us to become nimble and focus on accelerating growth and reinventing industries," said Dion Weisler, president and CEO of HP.

"We are doing this with 3D printing and the disruption of the $12 trillion traditional manufacturing industry, and now we are going after the $55 billion copier space," he added.

The transaction is expected to close within 12 months.

Samsung has built a strong portfolio of A3 MFPs that deliver the performance of copiers with the power, simplicity, reliability and ease-of-use of printers and with as few as seven replaceable parts.

Integrating the Samsung printer business' products, including their mobile-first and cloud-first user experience, with HP's next-generation PageWide technologies is set to create a breakthrough portfolio of printing solutions with the industry's best device, document and data security.

"The acquisition of Samsung's printer business allows us to deliver print innovation and create entirely new business opportunities with far better efficiency, security, and economics for customers," Weisler said.

The acquisition strengthens HP's leading laser printing portfolio that has been established with Canon, and paves the way for future printing innovation.

"The new HP A3 portfolio and channel programme will empower HP's partners in a region where we are aggressively pursuing growth through innovation and contractual services," Richard Bailey, President, Asia Pacific & Japan at HP Inc, told IANS.

Samsung's printer business also brings an intellectual property portfolio of more than 6,500 printing patents and a workforce that includes nearly 1,300 researchers and engineers.

"HP Inc. has been a valued partner and customer of Samsung. We can now leverage our combined capacity for innovation to further enhance the value of our relationship," said Dr Oh-Hyun Kwon, Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Acquiring Samsung's printer business will also strengthen HP's ability to service customers in global laser printing, a category where it has enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership with Canon for more than three decades.

"HP and Canon have long discussed print innovation to create customer value in business printing and in the growing MPS market. This transaction will further evolve our collaboration and bring about growth for both of our companies," said Fujio Mitarai, Chairman and CEO of Canon Inc.

(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

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