Canon Agrees to Acquire Océ

Canon and Océ have reached conditional agreement to combine their printing activities through a public cash offer by Canon for all shares of Océ. The offer will commence after the formal filing with the AFM (Dutch Authority Financial Markets) of an Offering Memorandum. This memorandum is expected to be published and the offer is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2010.

Following the completion of the merger, Océ will remain a separate legal entity and will become a division within Canon with headquarters in Venlo (The Netherlands). Océ will be responsible worldwide for wide format, commercial printing, and business services. Océ’s office activities will be integrated in Canon’s Office Imaging Products division (OIP). Canon’s Large Format Printing will functionally be integrated in the Océ Production Printing Division (“Océ division”) over time.

Also: The current management board and key management of Océ will remain in place. In the Océ division, the Océ brand name will be maintained and will be applied in all relevant markets, the companies report.

“We are delighted to welcome Océ, the ideal partner in every respect, into the Canon Group,” says Tsuneji Uchida, Canon’s president and COO. “Through the merger of Canon and Océ, we believe that we will be able to realize clear benefits, not only in the area of R&D, but also in terms of product mix and marketing, and are confident that this winning combination will contribute greatly to our goal of becoming the overall No. 1 presence in the printing industry.”

Says Océ CEO Rokus van Iperen: “The combined organization provides us with access to a huge sales network in Asia as well as mutual cross selling opportunities in Europe and the United States. Our customers will benefit from an outstanding product and services offering and our employees will be offered appealing development opportunities.”

Océ produces office printing and copying systems, high-speed digital production printers, and wide format printing systems for color display graphics as well as technical documentation. Océ is also a supplier of document management outsourcing. The company, founded in 1877, has headquarters in Venlo, The Netherlands, and is active in more than 90 countries and employs some 22,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in 2008 amounted to $4.34 billion.

CANON
www.canon.com

OCE
www.oce.com