Laser printer maker Lexmark has acquired California-based software provider Kofax for $1bn, in move to boost its enterprise software business.
Lexmark highlighted that with the Kofax acquisition, it aims to accelerate the growth and increase the operating margins of its software business.
In 2013, Lexmark divested its inkjet printer business and centred its focus towards enterprise software business.
The enterprise software designed by Lexmark is used by healthcare, insurance, banking, and retail companies, with the business growing at a rate of almost 30% in the past two years.
Lexmark’s enterprise software also contributed 8% to the company’s total revenue in 2014, reported Reuters.
According to Lexmark, the addition of Kofax is expected to enhance its content management and business process, and will facilitate the creation of a portfolio likely to cover web portals, mobile devices and smart MFPs.
The acquisition will bring the value of Lexmark’s enterprise software business to $700m after the closure of the deal in the second quarter of 2015.
Lexmark chairman Paul Rooke said, "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 to drive business forward.
"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."
Lexmark vice president and Perceptive Software president and chief executive officer Scott Coons said, "The combination of Perceptive Software and Kofax solutions strengthens the breadth and depth of our offering, giving us an unmatched ability to help customers of all sizes, in all industries and across the globe to connect unstructured information to their systems of record."
