Japan- based point-of-sale systems maker Toshiba TEC has signed agreement with IBM to acquire its Retail Store Solutions (RSS) business, offering retail point-of-sale applications worldwide for $850m.
Toshiba TEC said the deal would make the company a leader in point-of-sale solutions, which are being used by retailers to handle customer purchases, returns.
The acquisition will enable Toshiba TEC to sign a multi-year agreement with IBM in which Toshiba TEC will become an IBM Premier Business Partner for Smarter Commerce.
The multi-year agreement agreement will help ensure that IBM’s portfolio of enterprise-level Smarter Commerce applications, services and Toshiba TEC’s customer-facing retail store point-of-sale (POS) applications are available to customers worldwide to meet the demand for multi-channel commerce.
Following the acquisition, Toshiba TEC will acquire RSS’s overall business operation functions globally, including development, sales and related in-store maintenance.
The acquisition will enable Toshiba TEC customers to benefit from a ‘one-stop retail store application’ providing planning, maintenance and services to help them accelerate new store deployments worldwide.
After the transaction closes, IBM will continue to provide maintenance services to RSS clients under a multi-year services agreement.
Retail Store Solutions customer service and product availability will continue as usual as the RSS operations are integrated.
Toshiba is planning to create a holding company in Japan to manage its business operations in regions including the US, Europe and Asian countries.
Toshiba TEC will hold an 80.1% stake in the new holding company, while the remaining stake will be owned by IBM for next three years, which will be subsequently owned by Toshiba.
