( HPQ ) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.’s (SMSN.L, SSNNF.OB, SSNLF.OB) printer business in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. Samsung has also agreed to make $100-300 million equity investment in HP.
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HP said the acquisition would help it to “disrupt and reinvent” the $55bn copier industry, a segment that “hasn’t innovated in decades”.
The deal will also see HP slurp up Samsung’s printer business IP portfolio, which includes over 6,500 patents and a workforce of almost 1,300 researchers and engineers. HP will receive more than 6,500 patents from Samsung, Lores said, adding to its intellectual-property lineup.
If the deal is approved by regulators, it’s expected to close within the next year and HP will combine Samsung’s multi-function printer portfolio with its own existing technologies.
Samsung’s board of directors has approved the sale of the company’s printing business to HP for $1.05bn.
HP Inc, the hardware-focused business formed out of the split of HP, is to take on 6,000 Samsung staff, its production facilities in China and 50 sales offices worldwide.
The announcement Monday comes as the South Korean company grapples with an unprecedented smartphone recall that has wiped out billions of dollars from its market value. Samsung will continue to sell printers in Korea under the Samsung brand, but they will be sourced from HP.
Samsung’s print business holds more than 6,500 print patents and has a workforce of almost 1,300 employees.
“There is a strategic element to this deal as HP now licenses its laser print technology from Canon”, he said in a research report.
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HP and other printer-focused companies have seen weakening demand for its products in recent years. The company has made such decision because the printer industry has been gradually declining and is in the business to business (B2B) area in which it is hard to expand a share in the premium market.
