Kodak wraps up sale of microfilm business to Dallas company

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Eastman Kodak Co. has completed the sale of some assets of its microfilm products and equipment business to Eastman Park Micrographics Inc., officials said Tuesday.

Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The sale includes agreements for Kodak to continue supplying current microfilms, as well as to provide service and support for microfilm equipment. The transaction also includes Kodak’s data conversion services business, based in Monroe, N.C., which converts data between analog and digital formats.

Under the sale agreement, Kodak anticipates employees in Rochester and North Carolina who are aligned with the microfilm business will join Eastman Park Micrographics and its affiliates.

Eastman Park Micrographics will lease space in Eastman Business Park to serve as a center for the micrographics business, Kodak said. The data conversion services business will continue to be based in North Carolina.

The sale does not include Kodak’s document imaging business, a key part of Kodak’s business solutions and services group, the company said. Kodak said it remains committed to document scanners, capture software, information capture solutions, and services.

“Because we’ve had a longtime relationship with the principals of Eastman Park Micrographics, we know that it is a perfect acquirer of the microfilm business,” said Tony Barbeau, general manager of document imaging at Kodak, in a statement. “We are pleased to have in place agreements that ensure customers with ongoing availability of media products made by Kodak, as well as for the high levels of technical support and service to which they are accustomed.”

Kodak previously said it would sell non-core assets to generate cash to fund the completion of its transformation to a digital company.

Eastman Park Micrographics, a firm created as part of the deal, and its affiliates, based in Dallas, have a long record of providing products and services related to archival storage, retrieval, restoration and preservation of historical documents and records in county recorder offices throughout the United States, Kodak said.

The company has a strong commitment to the microfilm business, said William Oates, CEO of Eastman Park Micrographics, in a statement. “We see excellent prospects for long-term growth.”

Oates was not available for comment, an employee at the Business Records Corp. in Dallas said. Eastman Park Micrographic’s affiliated companies include Brown’s River Marotti Co. and Enduro Bindery.

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