Irvine’s Kofax PLC, a maker of software that helps businesses cut down on paper and data entry, said Monday it’s shedding its European division that distributes scanners and servers in a private equity buyout valued at about $23 million.
Kofax is selling its business distributing scanners, copiers and servers made by others to Germany’s Hannover Finanz GMBH.
Kofax’s existing managers in Europe are set to stay on and run the unit, which has some 200 workers and sees yearly sales of roughly $130 million.
The new unit is set to change its name to Dicom International AG and will be run by Joachim Froning, who was senior vice president of hardware distribution sales at Kofax.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the current quarter.
The move appears to be part of a larger restructuring by Kofax. In tandem with the deal, Kofax is set to cut some 20 jobs at its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa that’s expected to save $2.5 million per year, the company said.
Kofax makes scanning software used by businesses to get rid of paper and speed up productivity.
The software collects paper documents, forms, invoices, e-mail and photos and organizes them into a searchable database of files.
Kofax, which got its start in Irvine in 1985, has about 400 workers here and some 1,200 in all. It sees about $350 million in yearly sales.
The company is publicly traded in London with its executive base in Irvine.
