Business News
American Reprographics Joint Venture in China, UNIS Document Solutions Co., Ltd., Acquires Firm in Shanghai
Monday 20. July 2009 - Expands National Footprint With Second Location in China's Industrial Hub
American Reprographics Company (NYSE: ARP), the nation’s leading provider of reprographics services and technology, today announced the acquisition of the assets of Shanghai Light Business Machines Co., Ltd., a provider of document reproduction equipment, supplies and reprographics services to the Shanghai business community by Shanghai UNIS Printing Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of UNIS Document Solutions Co., Ltd. (“UDS”), its joint venture in China. The new subsidiary is the second UDS reprographics company located in Shanghai and will operate under the brand name “Shanghai UNIS Printing Technology Co., Ltd.” or UPT.
UPT operates a single centralized service facility in downtown Shanghai, China’s largest city and the hub of the country’s commerce and finance activities. The company employs 52 people and had year-end revenues in 2008 of $3 million USD.
Michael Ruan, Executive Director of UPT, said, “We’re looking forward to using ARC’s technology platform to drive sales and increase our market share. We need the most advanced document management applications in our industry to achieve our goal of providing the most efficient service in Shanghai, and by becoming part of UDS, I believe we’ll have it.”
Originally founded as an office supplies and document finishing equipment reseller, UPT now provides a variety of reprographics equipment and reprographics services to their customers, including on-site services where equipment is placed in customers’ offices for greater convenience and faster turnaround. UPT will also offer several technology products developed by American Reprographics Company.
Mr. Song Pei, President of Beijing-based UDS, said, “We are very pleased to have Michael and his team join our organization. They bring a service-minded attitude and tremendous enthusiasm for technology to our existing business in Shanghai. Such qualities are sure to position us well in both the existing market, and in the future as the global marketplace recovers and begins to thrive again.”
Chairman, President and CEO of American Reprographics Company, K. “Suri” Suriyakumar, said, “UPT is an outstanding addition to our growing Chinese operation. Michael has done a great job in growing his business to this point and I’m confident UPT is a platform on which we can grow in Shanghai. Identifying influential businesses and key management is a critical part of the growth strategy with our joint venture with UNIS. The acquisition of UPT is a perfect example of executing on that strategy.”