Xerox Corp. has acquired Oakville, Ont.-based LaserNetworks Inc., the companies announced Wednesday, in a deal that will bolster the vendor’s managed print services (MPS) offerings here and extend LaserNetworks’ customer reach.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The two companies have been in talks for a couple of months, John Quinn, a spokesperson with Xerox Canada, told CDN in an interview.
“Essentially this is about LaserNetworks hitting a plateau as a business,” Quinn said. LaserNetworks has been strong among the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market, but was looking to expand among larger enterprises, where Xerox has the most know-how. The vendor was looking to expand its customer base among SMBs, but also expand its managed print services offerings.
LaserNetworks has a “Cost Per Page” program and focuses on device tracking and centralized management, along with provisioning of printing supplies for a fixed fee.It also offers several software solutions for areas such as document capture and secure printing on shared devices.
Managed print services is a strategic growth area for Xerox and this acquistion will double the company’s MPS market share in Canada, Quinn said. Xerox is always looking for acquisition opportunities if they make sense, he added.
The two companies can now play off one another’s strengths.“They also have good expertise in various industries we wanted to grow in,” such as oil and gas, Quinn said.
LaserNetworks will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xerox Canada. It will retain all of its 189 staff, with its founder and CEO Chris Stoate leading operations here. Stoate established the company in 1987, and actually began his career at Xerox, which has its global headquarters in Norwalk, Conn. and a research facility in Mississauga, Ont.
The deal will help LaserNetworks gain more customers, not necessarily different kinds, he told CDN.“We are going to have the advantage of access to the full Xerox product line,” Stoate said but the company will maintain its vendor-agnostic offerings.
It currently has partnerships with Hewlett-Packard, Canon and Lexmark, among other vendors. “We just have a richer offering for them (customers), more choices,” Stoate said. He was confident that the strengths of both LaserNetworks and Xerox would lead customers to be very receptive. “I just think this is just a powerful combination.”
The deal also means more opportunity for his employees to grow, and possibly more hiring. “I think everybody’s very excited,” Stoate said, adding that the news was well-received by his team on Wednesday.
LaserNetworks currently provides support services for more than 50,000 print-related devices and operates 13 locations across North America. It had 2010 revenues of between $40 and $50 million, landing it the No. 31 rank onCDN‘s Top 100 Solution Providers list.