Ricoh close to acquiring IBM's digital printer business
Japan's Ricoh Co. Ltd. is close to a deal to acquire IBM Corp.'s digital-business printer operations, according to sources at the companies.
Final negotiations are underway and a deal is expected to be reached shortly, with an announcement before the U.S. stock market opens on Thursday morning, a source at one of the companies said.
Ricoh is one of Japan's largest office automation equipment makers and is known worldwide for its printers, fax machines and copiers. In the six months from April to September sales of printers and office equipment, which make up the lion's share of Ricoh's business, jumped 7.3 percent on the same period a year earlier to ¥743.6 billion (US$6.1 billion), thanks to the introduction of new products.
A report in the Thursday morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business newspaper put the size of the acquisition at about US$700 million.
IDG News Service
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