Fuji Xerox Australia snaps up local MPS provider

Japanese printing giant Fuji Xerox has bought out Australian managed printing services company Upstream Print Solutions for an undisclosed sum.

Upstream was founded by locals Neil Tilley and Gorden Hoen in 1995. Tillet was a veteran of the printing industry after running Lexmark Australia.

In a joint statement revealing the buyout this afternoon, the pair said that Upstream would operate as an autonomous subsidiary of Fuji Xerox Australia and would continue to focus on managed print solutions in the small to medium business market.

“Upstream has a unique business model and offers a good strategic fit which complements our business. We aim to maintain the value of Upstream’s brand and customer base using their current go-to-market model,” said Fuji Xerox's local chief Nick Kugenthiran.

For his own part, Tilley said the deal meant Upstream customers would continue to get the same service from the same team – but with the additional backing and support of “a large and proven business partner" in Fuji Xerox Australia.

Separately, Fuji Xerox said in emailed responses to questions that it would not disclose financial details of the acquisition – and did not disclose local revenue or profit figures in general.

In terms of Upstream's ongoing operations, the intention with the acquisition is to “maintain business as usual”, according to Fuji. Upstream's management team will be accountable to Andy Berry, Fuji Xerox Australia's Integrated Sales and Marketing Division, with Tilley to report directly to Berry and the Upstream board to be made up of Fuji Xerox's local directors – Berry, Kugenthiran and Phil Barter.

Co-founder Hoen will retire from Upstream, but most other things will remain the same.

“There will be minimal change to the way either FXA or Upstream conducts business. Upstream will operate their go to market autonomously,” said Fuji Xerox, noting it had a history of what it described as “successful acquisitions” – the Triangle distribution business in 2010 and the business process outsourcing division of Kaz in 2007 – with “a proven track record of employee satisfaction, customer retention and conflict resolution”.

“Both FXA and Upstream employees are assured stability and there will be no changes in day-to-day working environments,” Fuji said. “Most staff will remain at the current physical locations, as well as reporting to the same management teams.”

The Japanese giant added it anticipated making very few product or service changes that would impact current service delivery.

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