Lexmark begins acquisition of ReadSoft

Lexmark International has commenced a tender offer of about $182 million for all of the outstanding shares of Sweden-based ReadSoft. ReadSoft's board of directors has unanimously recommended in favor of Lexmark's tender offer, as have its two largest shareholders.

ReadSoft will be combined with Lexmark's Perceptive Software. ReadSoft’s software captures, classifies, sorts and routes both hard-copy and digital business documents, provides approval workflows, and automatically extracts and verifies relevant data before depositing it into a customer's systems of record.

ReadSoft reports it offers strong integrations with leading ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle for applications that include invoice processing, accounts payable automation and sales order processing. It further automates a variety of business processes that include claims, applications and questionnaire processing across a number of targeted industry segments.

Completion of the tender offer is contingent upon acceptance by ReadSoft shareholders representing more than 90 percent of the total number of outstanding shares of ReadSoft, applicable regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. The tender offer is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.