The OEM’s sale to Antalis covers the OEM’s paper, wide-format and non-paper substrates.
PrintWeek reported on the completion of the deal on 1 November, with the deal first announced in June this year. The European office and digital papers business was reportedly worth €300 million ($405.4 million), and Antalis’ UK, Ireland and South Africa Managing Director David Hunter noted that the deal would provide “significant opportunities” for the company and its customers.
91 UK staff previously employed by Xerox have now transferred to Antalis’ UK company, with the deal incorporating Xerox’s office businesses across Europe in Austria; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; the Republic of Ireland; Luxembourg; the Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Spain; and Switzerland.
The new division will be called Antalis Document Supplies, and will be run in the UK and Ireland by Xerox veteran Doug Bishop, who will be General Manager, having led the OEM’s office paper business for the past six years. The Xerox brand will still be used across the 5,000 products under the company’s remit, with a “good proportion” of the sales said to be generated in the UK, according to Hunter.
Antalis’ staff in the UK previously ran to 980 people across two distribution centres and 14 regional branches, with sales reaching £476 million ($765.6 million/€566.5 million) from the 14,000 products it currently sells. Hunter told PrintWeek that “over time” consolidation may occur in the product range, but would do so in partnership with Xerox and customers, with integration “carefully structured to ensure continuity”.
Staff numbers are not expected to be reduced, though the business’ cost base “is under constant review” according to Hunter, who added that purchasing will take precedence before office integration over the next year.
Hunter stated: “We’ve got two very good businesses here, so we have the luxury of time to look at a really sensible way of moving forward, to make sure we get it right. The important thing for customers is that it is business as usual. The people they spoke to at Xerox last week will be the same people they speak to at Antalis UK this week.”