The acquisition of Saperion will allow the OEM to strengthen its content management business.
The OEM reported that it had acquired Saperion AG in a deal worth $72 million (€53.9 million), with the acquired company stated to be a leader in “enterprise content management solutions, focused on providing document archive and workflow solutions”, with Saperion reporting to Lexmark’s Perceptive Software subsidiary after the acquisition is completed in 3Q2013.
Lexmark added that the deal will allow it to expand its footprint in Europe “in the enterprise content management market”, as well as “strengthen” its strategy of “providing the platform, products and solutions that help companies manage their unstructured information challenges”. Saperion’s products are platform independent and multilingual, and thus “highly scalable and easy to integrate” with enterprise resource management programmes as well as email and document management.
Among Saperion’s existing clients are Schindler, E.ON, Lufthansa, Vodafone, Daimler and Siemens, and Lexmark noted that the acquisition “illustrates [its] consistent execution” of “stated capital allocation”, whereby the OEM pursues acquisitions that “support growth and increase software and solutions capabilities”, whilst also returning more than 50 percent of cash flow to shareholders. Other such acquisitions have earned shareholders over $600 million (€449.5 million) in dividends since 2011.
Paul Rooke, Chairman and CEO of Lexmark, stated: “Lexmark continues to deepen and expand its content and process capabilities and solutions, which in turn improves our ability to help our customers manage their unstructured information challenges
“Upon closing, Saperion will be the latest software acquisition that strengthens Lexmark’s transition from being a global leader in imaging and output technology to one that offers enterprises end-to-end solutions.”
Herbert Lorch, CEO of Saperion, added of the deal: “Collaboration with Perceptive will open new markets for Saperion. We will be able to offer and support our solutions in regions where we were previously not represented. Our customers will benefit from our expanded international presence and globally active companies will receive even greater support around the world.”