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American analysts and commentators have been delighted by Xerox' announcement just before Christmas of a deal to acquire Lexmark from their Chinese owners, Ninestar.  Ninestar manufactures many of the A4 printers and multifunctions on the market badged with brands that we all know well, and manufactures a lot of toner too.  Xerox will pay USD 1.5 billion (1.45 billion Euros) for Lexmark.  Apex, a Chinese consortium bought Lexmark for USD 3.6 billion (3.5 billion euros) in 2016 and later changed their name to Ninestar.  Xerox Corporation already had debts totalling some USD 5.8 billion, and this will increase to over 7 billion.  Xerox turnover in 2023 was just under USD 7 billion.

 

Lexmark used to be the printing arm of IBM, and they're called LEXmark because they are headquartered in LEXington, Kentucky, USA.  But beyond the patriotic gesture, Xerox/Lexmark should be a good fit and may resolve some urgent problems on both sides.  The rush to complete the deal may be to present the incoming Trump administration with a fait accompli.  However it will take all of 2025 to complete, and it may not go smoothly.  Lexmark's Chinese ownership and Ninestar's continued toner operations in the USA despite product bans owing to alleged use of Uighur slave labour were always going to antagonize an anti-China, interventionist and isolationist administration in Washington DC.  Other analysts have suggested the perceived slow application of the bans on Ninestar products in the USA was in order to give Xerox time to arrange this acquisition.

 

Xerox staff and dealers will start 2025 with a smile on their faces.  Since the end of FujiXerox, it has been awkward for them to be "just" a global megadealership and not a manufacturer.  Xerox' latest A4 MFP is made by Lexmark/Ninestar, and although the 8200 series of Xerox Altalink flagship A3 colour copiers are made by Fujifilm, we can safely presume Xerox' new ranges of A3 MFPs from 2026 will be designed and manufactured by Lexmark.  However, this deal does not stabilise Xerox' activities in the production printing market.  Whilst today we might expect Xerox to stay with Fujifilm for production digital presses, the latter are getting closer and closer to Konica Minolta (in a strategic alliance since April 2024), and some analysts expect Fuji to buy out Konica in 2025, thus gaining a ready_made sales footprint in the EMEA, a region that Fujifilm have not been a part of since the FujiXerox partnership was wound up in 2018.  The end of FujiXerox meant Xerox lost its presence in Asia and the Pacific.  Lexmark's Global Headquarters and their Research and Development Corporation are in the Philippines, and this acquisition should present a route back into the huge Asia/Pacific markets for Xerox.