Lexmark Bolsters Software Clout With Kofax Purchase

Printer mainstay Lexmark has acquired a software maker for $1 billion (£670m), a move that will see its enterprise software business “nearly double” to around $700 million.

Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Irvine, California, Kofax reported 2014 revenue of $297 million. Kofax has over 20,000 customers worldwide.

The move is yet another example of traditional printer and ink vendors’ scrabbling to move into other businesses amid a PC market slowdown.

HP plans to split its computer and printer businesses this year, and Lexmark stripped its inkjet printer business in 2013.

Software solutions

“The acquisition of Kofax enhances our best-in-class offerings,” said Lexmark CEO Paul Rooke. “Our customers will have a breadth of hardware and software solutions that connect their information silos and automate their business processes – enabling them to access the most relevant information at the moment they need it”

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Lexmark will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Kofax for $11.00 per share in cash for a total enterprise value of approximately $1 billion, net of cash acquired.

“Kofax accelerates Lexmark’s development of industry-specific solutions while also immediately expanding our reach into the midmarket, where there is increasing demand for technology to better manage the growing amount of unstructured information and improve customer engagement,” added Rooke.

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