The two printing and photocopying pioneers Xerox and HP Inc. started merger negotiations after Xerox had made a takeover offer for its competitor. This was an unexpected move since HP is nearly four times larger than Xerox, with a market value of $31.8 billion versus $7.1 billion respectively. However, Xerox was ambitious enough to officially launch the bid to buy out HP. Xerox offered its rival’s stockholders to acquire all of HP’s shares and confirmed it secured enough funds to finance the takeover bid. The printing giant boosted its offer price to $24 per share. The proposal is set to expire on April 21. Earlier, the HP board raised concerns about how its smaller opponent Xerox would fund the deal. Xerox replied that it had secured financing from such major creditors as Citigroup, Mizuho, Bank of America, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PNC Financial Services Group, Credit Agricole Group, and SunTrust Bank. Xerox urges the printer industry to consolidate in order to support the shrinking business. As the need for printed documents is steadily declining, the growth outlook for both printing companies is rather pessimistic.
