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Toshiba to buy IBM point-of-sale business for $850 million

Toshiba TEC is set to buy IBM's point-of-sale business for $850 million, in a move that would make the half-owned Toshiba subsidiary the world's largest vendor of retail machines.
Written by Zack Whittaker, Contributor

A Toshiba unit said on Tuesday it is drawing up plans to buy IBM's point-of-sale terminal business for 68 billion yen ($850 million), as part of efforts to secure big name stores in a global push. [PDF]

Toshiba's TEC Corp. says it wants to buy the unit by the end of June or early July. Cash and bank loans will push the deal forward.

The deal is part of Toshiba's efforts to secure clients such as Walmart and Toys 'R' Us, amongst others, which IBM already holds as part of its customer base. IBM's retail store services' revenue in 2011 was approximately $1.15 billion, with over 1,000 employees worldwide.

The unit, which develops and builds cash registers and inventory monitoring software for retailers, would make Toshiba the world's largest vendor of point-of-sale machines with a near quarter share of the world's global market share.

A new holding company will be established, with Toshiba taking an 80 percent stake. IBM will retain a 20 percent stake in the business for a transitional period of three years, which it will gradually divest.

IBM's technology would bolster Toshiba's cloud services platform that allows a collaborative communication effort between customers, stores, manufacturers, and others.

IBM will continue to provide maintenance services to clients under multi-year service agreements.

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