Lexmark (LXK) To Acquire Saperion AG In $72M Deal

Lexmark International, Inc.announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Germany-based Saperion AG, a leading developer and provider of enterprise content management (ECM) and business process management (BPM) software in Europe, for a cash purchase price of approximately $72M. Upon the closing of the transaction, Saperion will report into Perceptive Software.

Saperion's ECM/BPM products feature a platform-independent, multilingual architecture, making the products highly scalable and easy to integrate with all major ERP, email and document management systems. Saperion has also developed leading cloud-based and mobile ECM solutions to provide workers easy and intuitive access to important content, even when they are away from the office. The offering empowers businesses to efficiently manage an increasing volume of information, to automate and streamline business processes, and to realize productivity gains.

Saperion has a large installed base of customers consisting of medium-sized companies as well as global accounts such as Schindler, E.ON, Fleurop, Henkel, Lufthansa, Vodafone, Daimler and Siemens with corporate-wide rollouts.

This acquisition illustrates Lexmark's consistent execution of the company's stated capital allocation framework. Lexmark's capital allocation framework is to pursue acquisitions that support growth and increase software and solutions capabilities, while returning more than 50 percent of free cash flow to shareholders, on average, through quarterly dividends and share repurchases. Since mid-2011, Lexmark has returned to shareholders more than $600M in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

Lexmark retains a strong liquidity position with a long history of cash generation.

On the seller's side, the transaction was led and advised by ViewPoint Capital Partners, Saperion's largest shareholder and lead investor.

The completion of the proposed acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in Germany and other customary conditions and is expected to close within the third quarter of 2013.