Seoul, Sep 12

Samsung Electronics on Monday said it has agreed to sell its printer business unit to US personal-computer maker HP. While the deal size has not been divulged, industry watchers put the figure at $1.05 billion.

The transaction is part of its \"efforts to concentrate on its core business areas\", Samsung said. Under an agreement, Samsung will source printers from HP and continue to market them in Korea under the Samsung brand, the company said in a statement.

\"Samsung will spin off the printing business unit into a separate company as of November 1 upon the approval of shareholders, and sell a 100 percent stake of the newly created company and overseas assets related to the business to HP,\" the statement said.

The transaction is expected to close within one year, subject to the appropriate regulatory approvals.

Samsung\'s printing business, with 6,000 employees, a production base in China as well as more than 50 sales offices globally, posted 2 trillion Korean won in revenue in 2015, according to the statement.

HP to buy Samsung\'s printing business for $1 bn