NEW YORK — Xerox said Monday it will buy Affiliated Computer Services for about $6.4 billion in cash and stock, joining the expensive race among technology companies to broaden their offerings.
Xerox said the deal will create a $22 billion business that combines Xerox’s copiers, printers and document- management services with the “business process outsourcing” of Dallas- based ACS.
Xerox’s offer amounted to a 33 percent premium over ACS’s closing stock price Friday, although the value fell as Xerox shares lost $1.29, or 14.4 percent, to close at $7.68 Monday. ACS shares jumped $6.61, or 14 percent, to $53.84.
The move takes Xerox deeper into the back-office operations of its customers with the kind of acquisition that is popping up more and more as technology companies add a greater variety of equipment and services under a single tent.
Last week, Dell said it would buy Perot Systems for $3.9 billion, kick-starting an information-technology-services business for the company. That comes a year after rival Hewlett-Packard Co. expanded its services business with a $13.9 billion buyout of Electronic Data Systems.
Part of the logic behind such deals is to acquire companies that have tighter relationships with their customers because they provide more critical services, said Craig Le Clair, an analyst with Forrester Research.
Businesses have more at stake outsourcing their payroll or accounting systems than buying copiers or personal computers. Companies providing those services have steady revenue streams from multiyear contracts.
“Great move by Xerox,” Le Clair said. “It’s a very storied company, but one aspect of that story is they haven’t moved into new markets quickly enough. And this is exactly the kind of thinking and bold move that will move them into the next phase of growth.”
