In one of the biggest financial deals in this industry in recent years, HP has announced the completion of its acquisition of Samsung Electronics’ printer business in a deal valued at approximately $1.05 billion. HP added that A3 represents HP’s largest growth opportunity in business printing. The combination with Samsung, it emphasized, expands HP’s portfolio, accelerates its ability to disrupt the $55 billion A3 copier segment with superior multifunction printing technology, and strengthens its leading A4 laser printing business. Samsung also brings compelling intellectual property of more than 6,500 print patents, plus a world-class workforce of nearly 1,300 researchers and engineers with expertise in laser technology, imaging electronics and supplies and accessories.
“As we ignite a renaissance in printing, we’re thrilled to bring together the industry’s best and brightest talent,” said Dion Weisler, President and CEO of HP Incorporated. “Together, we’ll build on more than 30 years of print leadership to accelerate our strategy, disrupt new market opportunities, and provide our customers and partners with unique and highly innovative print solutions.” With Samsung, HP can now offer the industry’s strongest portfolio of A3 multifunction printers that delivers “the simplicity of printers with the high performance of copiers.” The fully integrated portfolio, including next-generation PageWide technologies, offers opportunities to grow managed print and document services as sales models shift from transactional to contractual. Customers will have greater choice, reliability and uptime, said HP, with lower cost of ownership and more affordable colour. The combined portfolio also features unmatched security such as HP Connection Inspector, HP Sure Start, Run-time intrusion detection and whitelisting – making them the world’s most secure printers. HP will provide more financial information regarding the acquisition during its Q4 2017 earnings call. As part of the agreement, Samsung will be making a $100 million to $300 million equity investment in HP through open market purchases.