Lexmark Completes Sale, Announces New Strategies

The News and Facts
The leadership at Lexmark began a process to explore “strategic alternatives” for the future of the business back in October of 2015. In April 2016, the company announced it would be sold to a consortium of Chinese investors led by Apex Technology and PAG Asia Capital. Now, on November 29th 2016, Lexmark announced its sale has been completed and decisions have been made regarding the strategic decisions of the company.

While Lexmark’s corporate headquarters will remain in Kentucky, long time President Paul Rooke will no longer be leading the company. Instead David Reeder, former Lexmark VP and CFO, will be the company’s new President and CEO. Lexmark also announced two of their key initiatives going forward. The Enterprise Software group, now undergoing rebranding as Kofax, will be split off and subsequently sold. The Imaging Solutions and Services (hardware) division will now focus on “growing the imaging business, particularly in China and the Asia-Pacific region.”

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HP Inc. Divests Software Assets

On Monday, Open Text announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire most of HP Inc.’s Engage software portfolio for $170 million. However, HP made only the briefest of statements on the sale and the announcement was not even posted on the central HP news webpage.

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Lexmark Acquired by Apex

Back in October 2015, Lexmark announced plans to explore strategic alternatives for its business which many took to mean they were exploring a major move like splitting the company in separate two entities, selling a significant portion of the company, or to sell the entire company as-is.   Six months later, Lexmark announced on April 19, 2016 that it entered into a definitive merger agreement with a consortium of investors led by Apex Technology Co., Ltd. (Apex) and PAG Asia Capital (PAG), under which Lexmark will be acquired for $40.50 per share, representing a 30% premium to the price back in October (the day before Lexmark announced they were exploring strategic alternatives). This makes for all-cash transaction value of approximately $3.6 billion, net of cash. Read more »

InfoTrends at MSPWorld 2016

On April 4, 2016, David Ramos and I presented for the first time at MSPWorld. The three day conference was held in Orlando, and is one of the biannual shows managed by MSPAlliance. MSPAlliance is a MSP trade association founded in 2000 with 25,000 members globally. The conference is marketed as the “only event in the managed services industry brought to you by MSPs, for MSPs. MSPWorld is driven by those that have had actual real-world experiences and successes in the managed services industry AS a managed service provider.” Conference organizers went with the theme of “MSPStrong,” and divided the show into four educational tracks for business, sales and marketing, service operations, and technical.

MSPWorld Sponsors

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Focus on Change and Opportunities at ITEX 2016

Waves of Change, Oceans of Opportunity
On March 7th through the 9th industry leaders, exhibitors and dealers gathered in sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at the Broward County Convention Center for the ITEX 2016 National Conference and Expo. The show’s theme “Waves of Change, Oceans of Opportunity” was indicative of the expanded role of portfolio diversification and business operations transformation is playing within our industry.

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Xerox Announces Next Generation Workflow Automation Solutions and More

On November 16^th, Xerox announced two new workflow automation solutions for the insurance industry and HR departments, updated versions of two of their platforms (Digital Alternatives and DocuShare), and new components of their MPS strategy for the channel.

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The Dell-EMC Deal

The Deal
Though a little sticker-shock—to the order of $67 billion—is certainly in order, we should not be entirely surprised that Dell acquired EMC and its 81% stake in VMware. After all, it was an open secret that EMC was actively seeking buyers after the recent struggles with shareholders, and the failure to conclude a deal with HP. Though the acquisition includes a 60-day ‘go-shop’ provision that allows EMC to seek other bids with minimal penalty, competing bids seem unlikely. Dell has offered a substantial bid, and the number of other companies that would be seriously interested in acquiring EMC’s business is limited. Under the terms of the deal, EMC will go private as part of Dell, and VMware will remain a publically traded company.

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DocuWare Presents its Version 6.7, Partner Awards, and Financials at DocuWorld 2015

DocuWare wrapped up their partner conference, DocuWorld, in Orlando on Thursday. DocuWare reviewed the new capabilities built into their software, financial successes, and target markets areas. The 2015 members of the Diamond Club were announced and received their awards, and some shared their success stories.

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Ricoh and Sharp Announce New Plans to Bring IT Services to the Channel

Ricoh Americas Corporation and Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) announced new additions to their channel programs this week; both targeted to help their dealers provide IT services.  Ricoh’s program named CHAMPS will offer what is being branded as Cloud IT Services, which will be available exclusively for Ricoh Family Group dealer partners in the US. This is made possible through Ricoh’s 2014 acquisition of mindSHIFT. Sharp is going the partnership route by naming Continuum, a channel-only IT platform and services provider, as a Strategic Alliance Member. While not exclusive, this is the first such partnership between an OEM and a company like Continuum in the US.

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Xerox Evolving in 2015 with New Product Announcements

Xerox, a leader in document technology and services, today announced several new solutions and services that will add to their history of innovation. Xerox’s Large Enterprise Operations (LEO) is aligning its services offering by key vertical market to connect MPS & BPO. Read more »