Large shareholder seeks to hold back the split of Xerox for claimed benefits loss.
According to Reuters, Xerox is being sued by its largest individual investor as well as the forth-largest overall—Darwin Deason. Darwin Deason acquired his preferred convertible stock in Xerox as part of the ACS deal and currently owns 6.1% of Xerox stock. Deason complained his shares will be held in the legacy copier and printer business instead of Conduent Inc., the faster growing document outsourcing business.
The Conduent business comprises of the operation of Affiliated Computer Services Inc (ACS) based in Dallas, the company founded by Deason, and was acquired by Xerox for US$6.4 billion in 2010.
Deason requested the court to keep the Conduent business from separation. The court was also asked to declare that it violated Xerox’s certificate of incorporation for stripping Deason’s right of receiving a convertible stock in Conduent.
Xerox replied in a Thursday statement saying Deason’s lawsuit was meritless and the company would seek its dismissal. The OEM also added that it expects to complete the split on schedule and that the deal will enhance shareholder value.
