Copier giant Xerox Corp has acquired French printer manufacturer SET Electronique for an undisclosed sum. Xerox, a big player in the $5bn market for cut-sheet printing, wants to break into the $2bn market for high-speed printers which use large rolls of paper. These machines are generally used by utilities and banks for customer billing systems, and can print up to 1,000 sheets per minute.
In this market, Xerox will compete against the likes of IBM Corp and Oce NV. Analysts estimate that the company paid around $50m for privately-held SET, which sells printers costing as much as $1m each to large institutions. SET had revenue of FF100m ($16.3m) last year.
