Xerox announced the acquisition of Lexmark from Ninestar in a 1.5 billion USD agreement, plus Lexmark liabilities. This is an interesting and noteworthy acquisition, as Lexmark has been part of Ninestar, which has been under scrutiny by the US for abusing the Uyghur Muslims in China, forcing the population to work and live under slave-like conditions. Ninestar and some of its other American entities (here is the list of banned companies) have been banned from selling Ninestar-manufactured printers in the US, which led to a legal case against the US by Ninestar - as far as we know, still unsolved. 

Lexmark was once an IBM entity. Today, it serves the office segment in 170 countries and has over 200,000 customers.

In the press releases publishing the deal, Xerox outlines the synergies and how It expects to pay Ninestar in a combined cash and debt-converting agreement.

We have followed the Ninestar case closely, as this is an acquisition and a lot in a geopolitical game between the US and China. The Uyghur origins from Turkey and have, for the most lived a quiet life in the Chinese Xinjiang in the far northwest of China, and even accepted by the Chinese Xi Jinping regime. Still, in the past years, China has faced terrorism claimed to be done by the Uyghur Muslims - and as China has forced an increasing number of Chinese to settle in the province, tensions have increased, and the Chinese government is accused not only for using the Muslims for slave labor but also to put the Uyghurs into concentration like camps to force them to change into Chinese and not Uyghurs - but read Editor-in-Chief’s article here. 

It is unclear whether the sales will influence the tensions Ninestar has experienced. Still, with the increasing pressure on China and companies like Ricoh moving out of China, Trump's expected tariffs won't make it easier! Over the years, people like Ray Stasieczko have led the opposition against China and companies using Uyghur Muslims as slaves. You can watch the episodes here.