The three months of COVID 19 spread across the globe has started to show its influence on the in-process Merger and Acquisition deals as US Printer maker Xerox has officially announced that it is walking out of the $35 billion deal of acquiring HP Inc as the coronavirus pandemic is likely to eject an economic slowdown in coming months.
The decision was expected as the Printer manufacturer hinted early last month by postponing the meetings with the HP shareholders with a coronavirus pandemic spread excuse.
Surely, HP CEO Enrique Lores will be delighted to hear the news as his tenure to lead the company will automatically be projected. While Xerox CEO John Visentin will be immensely disappointed with the way the deal titillated in the past few weeks.
Market analysts suggest that the biggest blow from Xerox backing away from buying HP will be to Carl Icahn, the multi-billionaire investor who pushed the merger deal to a positive state as he owns two big stakes in both the respective companies.
Factually speaking, Xerox wanted to finish the deal by May this year. But as of now, its priority has shifted to the health and safety of its employees, customers, partners, and stakeholders and so the deal has been postponed till spring 2021 where its next annual shareholder meeting is scheduled to be held.
“We would like to thank our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees for their continued support during this process,” said HP in a statement released on Tuesday this week.
