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Xerox says exploring potential deal for financing business

FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Xerox is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - Xerox Corp said on Monday it was exploring the possibility of a "strategic transaction" for its customer financing business, which accounts for more than 65 percent of its overall debt. The printer maker said its plan to simplify its operations would lead to gross savings of at least $640 million in 2019 and $1.5 billion by 2021. The move comes close on the heels of a plan announced by the company to restructure itself to become a wholly owned unit of a new holding company, which will trade under its current ticker. Xerox has been exploring options following the termination of a complex deal last year to merge with Fujifilm Holdings Corp after it ran into strong opposition from activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. The financing unit accounts for about $3.4 billion of the company's total debt of $5.2 billion as of Dec.31, a presentation attached with the filing showed. It brought in 4 percent or about $300 million of Xerox's total revenue of $7.63 billion in fiscal 2018. Xerox was considering the sale of the financing unit, which lends money to customers to rent printer and equipment, Reuters reported last July. (Reporting by Sonam Rai and Sayanti Chakraborty in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Arun Koyyur)