After seeing its printer revenues fall in double digits for several quarters in a row, HP Inc. is finally taking action to curb the decline.

The company today announced that it’s acquiring the A3 printing business of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in a $1.05 billion deal that is set to buy it more than 6,500 patents and about 1,300 engineers. Most importantly, HP said, it also stands to gain the formidable line of multifunction printers that the South Korean giant has developed over the years.

“We are doing this with 3D printing and the disruption of the $12 trillion traditional manufacturing industry, and now we are going after the $55 billion copier space,” HP Chief Executive Dion Weisler (above) said in a statement. HP’s shares were rising about 2 percent Monday morning, considerably more than the sub-1 percent rise in the Dow and the NASDAQ.

Samsung’s machines come with built-in photocopying modules that are much easier and thus cheaper to repair than traditional copiers. To drive the point home, HP highlighted in its acquisition announcement that the least complicated systems from the family are made up of only seven replaceable parts while the average standalone alternative can include upwards of dozens.

The company plans to use Samsung’s machines to eat away at the $55 billion copier industry and soften the losses in its printer business, an effort that could positively affect its entire balance sheet given the division’s strategic importance. The Wall Street Journal noted last month that the division has been accounting most of HP’s profits since its enterprise technology arm split off last year despite generating significant less overall revenue than its flagship PC unit.

“We see the acquisition as a low-risk, low-cost way to attack the copier market,” Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said in a note to clients. “At a valuation lower than other recent deals, the transaction allows for vertical integration in a large ($55B) market where margins may not justify extending the Canon partnership.”

Nonetheless, the company has a long way to go before the purchase of Samsung’s printer arm can start making a meaningful impact on its bottom line. HP had 37 percent of the printer market in the second quarter, down from 41 percent a year ago, according to a report last month from IDC.

The business reported sales of $1.8 billion for last year compared with more than $20 billion that the HP’s printing arm made during the same period. As a result, the company will need to throw the full force of its sales organization force behind the new Samsung machines to achieve the acquisition’s intended goal.

Then there’s also the matter of reconciling the deal with its existing partner obligations. HP resells copiers from Sharp Corp. and Canon Inc. while also relying on the latter company for the laser printing components of its printers, which it in turn could substitute at least partially with the technology assets gained through today’s deal.

Despite these frictions, the companies’ relationship appears stable for the time being. Canon Chief Executive Fujio Mitarai even went as far as saying that the acquisition will “evolve … and bring about growth” for their partnership in a statement. HP expects to complete the purchase within the next 12 months, at which point it will receive a $100 million to $300 million equity investment from Samsung to round out the deal.

Image via Pixabay