The ink market merger has become common practice
The emergence of mergers and acquisitions in the ink market is a sign of accelerated pace of mergers and acquisitions between European printing companies, especially the publishing industry and the packaging industry. In fact, ink manufacturers are forced to respond by reorganizing their own organizations to become larger and more integrated with their suppliers and customers.
At present, resin suppliers have already reached agreement on a series of M&A actions in Europe, the larger one being DSM (DSM, a chemical and manufacturing company in the Netherlands) taking over the management of a chemical company in Avcia Aviva UK. NeoResins Coating Resins and Cytec (Cytec Industries) acquired Surface Specialties UCB, a division of UCB (Belgian's pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals group).
In 2004 Akzo Nobel Group (based in the Netherlands) sold its coating resin production department to Nuplex Industries in New Zealand. However, it retained the resin production department for the production of printing inks. However, after further observation of the market, in January 2005 the company decided to sell it publicly because it could not occupy the main market.
The third largest merger in the European ink market in five years is BASF PrintingSystems (BASF Printing Systems, the third largest ink manufacturer in Europe), acquired by ANI Printing Inks (Arnoy Printing Ink Co., Europe's seventh largest ink manufacturer). After the merger, the new organization entered the second position in the market and occupied 18% of the European market, second only to Sun ChemicaI.
Although Sun Chemical BASF/ANI and Flint Schmidt now enjoy nearly 2/3 of the total European ink sales, it is believed that there is room for further M&A in the European ink market. A senior executive at an ink company said: There are still many medium-sized ink companies that are not large enough to compete, and there may be sales and purchases between large companies. Because the long-term trend is specialization, even if it is This is also true for large companies.' The important driving factor behind the M&A activity is the mutual funds of M&A participants. These funds are continuously introduced due to the potential high returns of ink and related markets.
CVC, a leading independent venture capital firm that manages more than $9 billion in capital, has taken over the BASF/ANI merger and claimed that it uses the following methods to position and participate in the industry: Industry-leading, opportunities for further growth after mergers and acquisitions. Stable cash The flow and the average return over the investment in the country. Its managing director, Christian Wildmoser, believes that the European ink market is like a 'fragmented industry'. There is no other way to maintain its original market position in this market except to further expand BASF and AN.
The ink market’s ability to make money was confirmed in January 2005 when Saratoga Partners, a private investment firm in New York, sold Serico I{scrutiny to screen printing and digital printing inks in the United Kingdom for US$277 million. Producer) sold to Fuji Photo FilmCo. This is nearly 75% more than Saratoga took Sericol from BP two years ago.
Sericdl was initially affiliated with Burmah Castro, the British Petroleum and Chemicals Group, and was acquired by BP (now the world's third-largest petrochemical company) in 2000. Serico} is regarded as one of the most profitable ink companies in Europe. Its screen printing and ink-jet printing inks now have sales of nearly 50 million pounds. It is more than just a surprise when Saratoga bought it.
British ink and consumable leader companies. The penshaw Group, which turned to Ernst F.丫oung for financial difficulties earlier this year, was the result of the sale of some of the group's divisions. Bousfield (an ink manufacturing subsidiary of the Openshaw Group, which sells its products globally) in 2005 Ultracheme, which sold its printing chemistry business to the UK at the beginning of the month, has recently expanded its business to chemical and technical services. Bousfiield has become its core business. According to Bousfield's management report 2004
Diversification becomes a development trend
The company’s customers do not pay enough for the service. Therefore, the ink and its consumable supply department have to bear the costs that are not proportional to it. Litho Supplies, the main supplier of inks and consumables in the UK, is aware of the difficulties faced by the Openshaw Group and will therefore reduce the proportion of services to save costs.
One common practice among ink companies of all sizes is to try to diversify investment in more consumables and services to ensure higher price control capabilities. This is more common in markets where prices are more flexible, such as packaging. .
This diversification trend has been reflected in the recent mergers and acquisitions and the diversification purpose is to enhance the ink business's vitality by placing the ink business in a larger printing field. For example, between Japan AS and ANI The merger includes both vertical and horizontal business integration. The newly formed company is now more than just a pure ink manufacturer. The CSF-owned BASF M&A includes BASF's Shanghai-based global standard ink dye factory in the United States. A soda plant in Huntington, West Virginia, and BASF's printing plate business (a global printing plate supplier is also a leading company in the flexographic printing plate market), resulting in the combined enterprise being able to be narrow In the field of flexo printing, printing plates and ink systems are fully provided, and BASF/ANI is also aiming at entering other auxiliary product markets, such as color management software and equipment.
The merger between Sericol and Fuj transformed a screen ink manufacturer into a large image products and services group with annual sales of US$24 billion. In Europe, Fuj’s main business is film printing chemicals and prepress products. This acquisition was the first major move by Fuj i into the screen printing market. However, it also wants to develop Serico {in the digital printing business so that in this market it is both an ink manufacturer and a printing equipment supplier. Fuj i is trying to occupy a strong position in the digital printing market, including inkjet printing inks, because the products in this field are considered to have high added value and high profit potential.
There are exceptions, of course. If Sun Chemical sells its 50% stake in the joint venture KPG to partner Eastman Kodak, it seems to be the opposite of diversification. With the help of $800 million in this transaction, Sun Chemica's leadership emphasized that the company will continue to grow in areas such as consumables and color control products in order to be able to provide a complete solution for the printing shop and color control.
Source of information: pack.cn