Ricoh said on Wednesday that it would buy Ikon Office Solutions, which sells and services office equipment, for $1.62bn in cash to win access to Ikon’s large corporate and government customers and build out its North American distribution network.

Ricoh, a Japanese manufacturer of office printers, fax machines and copiers, has been a longstanding supplier of equipment to Pennsylvania-based Ikon. Ricoh’s business is largely concentrated in Japan, however, and Ikon is one of the last office equipment companies with a strong North American presence that had not already been acquired in recent years.