News

Fuji has bought Sericol, the specialist UK ink manufacturer, in a deal worth £123m.

According to a Fuji statement: "The acquisition will further expand and develop our business into industrial and packaging printing, which are expected to grow steadily in demand."

The sale, which should close in late February, will make Sericol a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese giant, trading under the name of Fujifilm Sericol. The current management, conditions of employment and distribution deals will stay the same.

"Fujifilm is a well run, innovative, technology-driven company with extensive resources that we will be able to draw upon to grow," said Sericol chief executive Ed Carhart.

The move by Fuji is part of a plan to expand into new areas, at a time when its traditional photo film market is in decline. In its statement the firm also cited "significant synergistic effects", which could include the R&D of a new UV ink system using Fuji's CTP plate photopolymerization.

Sericol, which produces inks for screen and narrow web presses, has aggressively expanded into the wide-format digital ink market in the last few years. It has 15 sales operations across the world and manufacturing sites in the UK, US, Australia, China, Brazil and India.

The firm is also the worldwide distributor for Inca large-format digital presses. "Fuji can help us access more customers, so we expect it to be very positive," said Inca managing director Bill Baxter.

Story by Darryl Danielli