IKON Office Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: IKN) shares are up sharply this week after Steel Partners' Warren Lichtenstein got his wish. The office repair company finally agreed to sell itself to Japan-based Ricoh Co. Ltd. for $1.6 billion after being pressured by the activist hedge fund for some time. Officially, the $17.25 a share deal was the result of the company's "strategic planning process", but the pricing made it a huge win for its largest investor Steel Partners.

Steel Partners is one of the most aggressive hedge funds in the world with a tendency to force changes upon companies. The firm owns about 1/8th of Ikon and paid around $10.50 per share for its stake. That makes this latest deal worth $6.75 per share in profit, which is a healthy gain even when spread over a few years. The news also comes just after Steel Partners won control of Point Blank Solutions (OTC: PBSO) in a hostile takeover attempt.

IKON Office Solutions, Inc. (IKON) is an independent channel for document management systems and services. IKON integrates copiers, printers and multifunction product (MFP) technologies from manufacturers, such as Canon, Ricoh, Konica Minolta and HP, and document management software from companies like Captaris, Kofax, eCopy, EFI, EMC (Documentum) and others, to deliver solutions implemented and supported by its team of global services professionals.

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