Fremont, California-based wide-format printer manufacturer EFI, Foster City, California, announces that it has acquired two printer manufacturers, extending line of grand format digital printing equipment. The companies—Reggiani Macchine and Matan Digital Printers—are both manufacturers of grand-format inkjet-based digital printing equipment.

The biggest splash came with EFI’s purchase of Italy-based Reggiani Macchine, one of the largest global manufacturers of digital inkjet textile printers. In a deal that could end up being worth approximately $140 million, EFI is paying off about $22.6 million in Reggiani debt, paying its former shareholders about $30.8 million in cash and issuing those shareholders another $30.8 million in EFI stock. EFI could end up paying another $52.6 million over the next 30 months, based on revenue and profitability benchmarks the two companies have established.

On July 1, the same day, EFI also announced it was paying approximately $29 million in an all-cash transaction to acquire Israel-based Matan Digital Printers, a manufacturer of superwide-format UV-curing digital printers. That deal also included EFI assuming approximately $5 million in Matan’s debt.

Both companies provide EFI with opportunities that it did not have prior to the respective purchases, according to company CEO Guy Gecht.

"This acquisition gives EFI an immediate leadership position in one of the world’s largest industries undergoing the transformation from analog printing to digital,” Gecht says of the Reggiani purchase. “The textile printing market is just beginning that transition, which will enable manufacturers to shift from long-run to on-demand manufacturing, responding to the increasing demands of short runs and customizations.”

According to the more than 1,200 respondents to a recent printer industry survey conducted by industry association FESPA and analysis firm InfoTrends, textile printing is seen as the biggest growth opportunity in the industry. And inkjet printing, says Ambrogio Caccia Dominioni, managing director of what is now EFI Reggiani, is the key technology driving that growth.

Dominioni says that joining EFI gives his company access to the resources of a world leader in inkjet technology as well as opening to the door to a much broader geographic reach through EFI’s sales and marketing resources.

Founded in 1948, Reggiani makes a variety of digital and traditional printers but 75 percent of its revenues in 2014 came from its digital technologies. The company has customers in 120 companies and distribution agents in more than 40 countries. Its 190 employees are now a part of EFI Reggiani.

While the Reggiani purchase instantly gives EFI a strong presence in a market – textiles – where it was previously not considered a major player on the global scale, the company’s purchase of Matan Digital Printers enhances its portfolio of grand format UV printers.

With its VUTEk line of UV printers EFI has always targeted a certain market segment – those with the need for and the ability to pay for what the company considers the industry gold standard in terms of wide format printers. The Matan purchase provides EFI entry into a different and potentially much bigger market.

“This acquisition gives EFI an even broader range of products to help our customers capture important opportunities in superwide-format display graphics printing,” Gecht said. “Matan’s strong R&D capability will further accelerate EFI’s inkjet innovations while filling a key spot in EFI’s portfolio for a lower-acquisition-cost line of roll-to-roll production printers focused on signage, banners, billboards and fleet graphics.”

As with Reggiani, the buyout by EFI gives Matan access to EFI’s vast sales, software and ink platforms, notes former president and CEO Hanan Yosefi.

“The Matan team and I are excited to continue growing and innovating as part of the world’s leading providers of industrial inkjet printing products,” says Yosefi, who is now vice president and general manager of EFI Inkjet Israel.

The purchase of Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel-based Matan, and its 70 employees, also give EFI a significant presence in that country that it did not have before.