The OEM, recently acquired by Apex Microelectronics, is laying off 320 staff in the software business.
Lexmark revealed last year that the merger had been approved by shareholders, though it “remain[ed] subject to certain regulatory approvals”, such as the CFIUS, as well as “other customary closing conditions”, though the CFIUS later approved it. The merger had been expected to be completed in the second half of the year, despite The Recycler reporting earlier last year that Lexmark employees were attempting to block the deal.
After it was officially completed, Apex and Ninestar released a statement noting that they “are delighted” with the deal, which has seen Apex take “a great step onto the global business stage”, while a conference was held in late 2016 in China to discuss the deal in more detail. During the confirmation of the deal’s completion, both Lexmark and Apex stated that Lexmark’s Enterprise Software group “will be separated from Lexmark and rebranded” as Kofax.
In turn, both Lexmark and the consortium were set to “engage in a process to sell the business while focusing on growing the imaging business, particularly in China and the Asia-Pacific region”. Kansas City has reported that the OEM is now laying off 320 staff, or “10 percent, of its software business employees”, including its Lenexa-based operations “formerly called Perceptive Software”.
The news site contacted the OEM for comment, with a spokeswoman “declin[ing] to discuss the local impact of the job cuts” but responding that the cuts reached “all functional areas in the Lexmark Enterprise Software business on a global basis”, as part of a restructuring that began on Tuesday. 550 jobs – or “about four percent of its worldwide workforce” – were announced to be cut last year during this year, while the restructuring programme was launched to “increase profitability and operational efficiency” in the ISS (Imaging, Solutions and Services) business.
This restructuring was said at that point to be expected to generate savings of around $100 million (€91 million) per year from 2017, with Lexmark noting at the time that the restructuring was “aligned with the strategic alternatives process” that culminated in the merger, and that “a portion” of the jobs cut would be “shifted to low-cost countries”.
At the Lenexa site, the company had previously stated it had around 500 staff, though there had been up to 700 there previously, and Sylvia Chansler, Public Relations Manager for Kofax, commented on the cuts by noting that “this action was taken to reduce our costs to be more in line with our revenues and those of comparable enterprise software companies. [Lexmark remains] solidly profitable and therefore financially healthy”.
On the plans to “separate the enterprise software operation from the rest of Lexmark and rebrand it as Kofax”, as well as “seek a buyer for the software business”, Chansler confirmed it was still “interested in selling the software business”.