S&P: Ricoh unchanged

Standard & Poor's said its ratings on Ricoh Co. Ltd. (A+/stable/A-1) would not be affected by Ricoh's acquisition of International Business Machines Corp.'s (A+/stable/A-1) printing systems operations, which was announced on Jan. 25.

Ricoh and IBM plan to establish a joint venture based on IBM's Printing Systems Division, with Ricoh gradually building its stake to 100% over three years, the agency said, adding that as Ricoh plans to cover $725 million of the acquisition cost from cash at hand, its financial profile is likely to change to net debt from the net cash position that it has maintained for the last few years.

However, given its expected strong free operating cash flow, exceeding ¥50 billion on an annual basis, the impact on its financial profile is likely to be temporary and fairly limited, the agency noted.

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