Xerox cleared by EU for ACS acquisition

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. printing company Xerox Corp (XRX.N) gained European Union regulatory approval on Tuesday for its $5.5 billion takeover of Affiliated Computer Services Inc (ACS.N) to move into the outsourcing business.

The cash-and-stock deal is Xerox's biggest acquisition ever and marks the first major deal by its new chief executive, Ursula Burns.

The deal would not significantly impede effective competition in Europe, the European Commission said in a statement.

"In view of their different business focus, Xerox and ACS are not each others' most important competitors in any of the potentially relevant markets," the European Union executive said.

It said the merged company would continue to face many global and regional competitors.

Xerox follows in the footsteps of other hardware vendors that have sought to diversify. The technology services sector has attracted interest due to its reliable revenue streams.

The Xerox-ACS deal is part of a string of acquisitions in the technology industry, including Dell Inc's (DELL.O) purchase of Perot Systems Corp (PER.N) and Oracle Corp's (ORCL.O) plan to buy Sun Microsystems Inc JAVA.O.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Dale Hudson)