Asian Tech Press (Apr. 26) -- Japanese IT services company Fujitsu Ltd. is selling its scanner business to office equipment maker Ricoh Company Ltd. for about 80 billion yen ($625 million).

Fujitsu will sell 80% of its wholly owned subsidiary PFU Ltd., a major manufacturer of commercial scanners founded in 1960, to Ricoh.

By consolidating PFU's products, Ricoh plans to create a new service that integrates office equipment and image data processing.

After the transaction is completed, Fujitsu will focus on software development to address the strong demand for digitization of business processes such as telecommuting.

The two companies aim to make a formal decision on the deal by the end of this month. And Ricoh is expected to retain about 4,500 employees at PFU after the deal is completed.

Since around 2015, Fujitsu has been selling off part of its hardware business to focus on providing software for businesses, including information management services for manufacturers and governments. Previously, the company has sold its cell phone and PC businesses.

And Ricoh is trying to transform itself from an office equipment maker to a digital services company.