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Lexmark International Inc., the Lexington-based maker of printers recently bought by a Chinese consortium, has sold its “enterprise software” business to private equity firm Thoma Bravo, the firm announced Wednesday.
A Lexmark spokeswoman said the company would have no comment on the transaction.
“We’re incredibly excited to be acquiring the Lexmark Enterprise Software business as it contains some of the most advanced digital transformation technologies in the industry,” Seth Boro, a Thoma Bravo managing partner, said in a statement.
In April 2016, Lexmark announced it had agreed to be acquired by a group of investors headed by China-based Apex Technology and PAG Asian Capital. Lexmark officials said the agreement was an “all-cash transaction valued at approximately $3.6 billion, or $40.50 per share.” The sale was finalized in November 2016 after clearing governmental scrutiny.
At the same time the planned sale was announced, officials also said they would work to sell of its “enterprise software” division. That division was rebranded back to Kofax Inc., a California-based software company that Lexmark purchased in March 2015 for about $1 billion.
The software division’s sale represents the end of Lexmark’s last gasp bid to reinvent itself as a public company under former CEO Paul Rooke, who was replaced in November by current Lexmark CEO David Reeder.
The software sale includes several other holdings beyond Kofax. Thoma Bravo said in a news release that part of the software and imaging software will in turn be sold to Hyland Software Inc., another content management company in its portfolio. Kofax and another holding, ReadSoft, will become a new Thoma Bravo company under the Kofax name and run by current president of Lexmark’s “enterprise software” division, Reynolds Bish.
Lexmark currently employs 2,300 workers in Lexington, officials said.