Samsung Electronics has reached an agreement to sell the entire global operations and assets of its printing business to HP in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. Samsung says that this transaction is part of the Company’s efforts to concentrate on its core business areas.
Samsung will spin off the Printing Business Unit into a separate company as of Nov. 1 upon the approval of shareholders, and sell a 100 percent stake of the newly created company and overseas assets related to the business to HP.
Under the agreement, Samsung will source printers from HP and continue to market in Korea under the Samsung brand. The transaction is expected to close within one year, subject to the appropriate regulatory approvals.
After closing the transaction, Samsung has agreed to make a $100 million to $300 million equity investment in HP through open market purchases.
This is the largest print acquisition in HP’s history .
HP says that this acquisition will position it to disrupt and reinvent the $55 billion copier industry, a segment that hasn’t innovated in decades. Copiers are outdated, complicated machines with dozens of replaceable parts requiring inefficient service and maintenance agreements. Customers are frequently frustrated with the number of visits needed to keep copier machines functioning.
So, HP is investing to disrupt this category by replacing copiers with superior multifunction printer (MFP) technology.
Samsung’s printer business also brings a compelling intellectual property portfolio of more than 6,500 printing patents and a workforce of 6,000 employees that includes nearly 1,300 researchers and engineers with advanced expertise in laser printer technology, imaging electronics, and printer supplies and accessories.
And, Samsung Electronics’ Board of Directors also proposed the nomination of Jay Y. Lee as a member of the Board of Directors to be approved at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders in October.
More than two years after the hospitalization of Samsung Chairman Kun-Hee Lee, the Board of Samsung Electronics believes that the time is now right to nominate his son Jay Y. Lee as a member of the Board to allow him to take a more active role in the Company’s strategic decision-making.
