H-P to Acquire Scitex

Hewlett-Packard(HPQ Quote) late Thursday shelled out $230 million in cash to buy Scitex Vision, an Israel-based, superwide format, digital printing company -- Mark Hurd's first acquisition as H-P CEO.

Scitex specializes in wide and superwide printers used for signage and industrial applications such as billboards, banners, ads that wrap around city buses and street advertising. It has 560 employees and generated $142 million in revenue for the 12-month period, ended June 30.

The purchase will bolster H-P's own large-format printing business, which accounted for $1.2 billion in sales last year and has 550 staffers. H-P spokesman Ryan Donovan said the company has no plans to eliminate any Scitex workers. ...