Xerox has sold half of its stake in Fuji Xerox to Fuji Photo Film for 886m ($1.3bn), bringing to nearly 1.4bn the amount raised in asset sales since December last year.


The sale greatly enhances our liquidity, and puts to rest any concerns about us having to file for Chapter 11, said Joe Kelly, Xerox Europe head of communications.


Under the agreement, Fuji Photo Films stake will increase from 50% to 75%, with Xeroxs stake decreasing to 25%.


We have no plans to sell off the remaining shares as we will continue to co-develop products with them, said Kelly.


Xerox will look to develop colour and next generation products, along with a range of monochrome multi-function devices, as part of their on-going relationship.


In December, Xerox completed the sale of Xerox (China) and Xerox (Hong Kong) to Fuji Xerox for 375m, after issuing a turnaround plan in October last year, along with a list of assets it was looking to dispose of.


Kelly also said Xerox was in on-going negotiations about the sale of its paper operations, and may have something to announce soon.


Due to the rapid turnaround in Xeroxs finances, Kelly said it may not have to go through with the sale of some of the possibles drawn up for disposal.


He also said negotiations were on-going about the sales of other sectors of the business, but no decisions had been finalised.


The DocuColor 12 and the Document Centre ColorSeries 50 digital printer were among the products jointly developed by Xerox and Fuji Xerox.


Fuji Xerox was incorporated in 1962, and has more than 30,000 employees and a turnover of 5.45bn.


Story by Andy Scott