KeepItPrinting.com

[KIPDOCTOR]

Looks like another nail in the KIP coffin has been driven by Canon.
Announced today that Canon will buy Oce' for $1.1 bil.

My opinion always was that if KIP could just be bought out by a company such as Canon it would make them the true big player that they always should have been. Now it looks like the only option is if Ricoh would buy them. Probably not likely as they have thier own successful line of wide format machines.

This can't be going over well in Farmington Hills.



Canon to Buy Océ, the Biggest European Printer Maker


CHRIS V. NICHOLSON
Published: November 16, 2009
Canon, the Japanese maker of cameras, copy machines and other electronics, will make a tender offer worth €730 million for Océ, the biggest European printer maker, the two companies said Monday.

At €8.6 per outstanding Océ share -- 70 percent higher than their price at the close on Friday -- the all-cash offer values the Dutch company at nearly $1.1 billion.

“Today’s announcement is not about the sale of a midsize industry player,” said Rokus van Iperen, chief executive of Océ, calling the new company a “global combination” that would give Océ better access to markets and hand Canon technology it needs. Toshizo Tanaka, chief financial officer of Canon, said at a news conference in Amsterdam on Monday that Europe had been the company's top market since 2004.

Mr. van Iperen declined to comment on the possibility of other bids. Asked whether the European Union regulators might raise antitrust objections, he said, “We have been in extensive contact with the authorities in Brussels, and they have not had any issues” so far.

The management and board of Océ have lent their support to the proposal, which envisions preserving the independence and brand of Océ inside the global group, as well as maintaining current labor agreements.

“The printing industry currently is in a period of consolidation,” the two companies said, “driven by the undeniable fact that scale is increasingly important, especially in R&D and manufacturing.”

Last month, Océ reported a third-quarter loss of €25 million, 4 percent higher than a year earlier but in line with analysts’ expectations, as it booked restructuring costs of €32 million stemming largely from layoffs.

The company, which sells printers and copiers and has relied heavily on sales to banks and architecture firms, saw a number of export markets suffer as companies cut budgets during the financial crisis.

Océ said when it released its third-quarter results that the outlook for the fourth quarter would remain “challenging,” even if the U.S. market was bottoming out. “In the current economic climate we will continue to cut costs aggressively, in order to regain profitability,” it said.

Canon has faced the same market conditions for copiers, but because of its camera sales it was able to report a profit of ¥36.7 billion, or $410 million, in the quarter that ended in September. It expects profit for the year ending in December to be 64 percent lower than last.

The combined Canon-Océ will be up against competition from Fuji and Ricoh to dominate the European, U.S. and Asian markets. Canon’s acquisition comes just a year after Ricoh bought Ikon Office Solutions, based in Pennsylvania, for $1.62 billion.

Before the announcement, Canon shares ended down ¥50, or 1.46 percent, at ¥3,370 in Tokyo. After the announcement, Océ shares rose €3.48, or 68.61 percent, to €8.54 in mid-morning trading.
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What we have gained in technology, we have lost in humanity.

[REPRODOGGIE]

Not so big a deal as you might think.

First there is euphoria, followed by uncertainty at Oce, followed by what is likely to be the mother of all culture wars, followed by cost cutting and more paranoia, followed by integration wars.

What does all this mean? Nothing. A big company just got bigger and more complicated.

Canon will have a thousand priorities ahead of wide-format. It will be years, and Oce will have fallen even further behind, before they get around to us.

Also, Japanese companies are known in some circles for not paying very well. A lot of old-timers and fat cats at Oce will likely to be departing for points unknown.

To sum up, bigger, more complicated, conflicted Oce staffed by overpaid, about to become paranoid, costs waiting to be cut.

Fear not Kippers, and go sell something.

RD

[phan6622]

"Canon will have a thousand priorities ahead of wide-format."

Have you noticed the market share they are taking from HP and have taken from them in the last few years?

I don't disagree with alot of your points, but to say that they have little interest in wide-format is just way off.. in my opinion.

[REPRODOGGIE]

I will concede that Canon is making giant inroads into hp's market share, I am doing my best along with everyone else to make that happen.

But that is a product that does not require anything from Canon to market as it is done via distribution. To come after "KIP" type wide-format requires a change to their direct marketing structure that will be difficult to bring about.

There are a myriad of other, more lucrative synergies that will occupy them for quite some time.

KIP might do well to establish it's own direct sales operation. Such an operation would add greatly to the value of KIP America.

But what do I know?

[mascan42]

I have to feel bad for my old colleagues at Imagistics. This will make the third time in the past decade that the company has changed owners.