Printer company Lexmark is making a content management play with the purchase of privately-held Perceptive Software for about $US280 million in cash.

Perceptive, which generated revenue of $US84 million in 2009, makes enterprise content management software but will retain its current name and operate as a stand-alone software business, Lexmark said.

Perceptive has a presence in the higher education, healthcare and government segments with its ImageNow software platform that integrates with a large number of ERP, CRM and line-of-business applications.

"Lexmark has been a leader in industry-focused, paper-based workflow solutions for more than 10 years," said Paul J. Curlander, Lexmark’s chairman and chief executive officer.

"The acquisition of Perceptive Software builds upon and strengthens our current industry workflow solutions, and broadens the portfolio of offerings to our current customers including our managed print services customers."

"This added software platform provides a core component of Lexmark’s strategy to deliver industry-focused document workflow solutions, software and services that lower our customers’ costs and significantly improve their productivity," Curlander added.