Digital offset press and plate systems maker Presstek has entered a merger agreement that will see it being acquired by MAI Holdings Inc, aa holding company owned by American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV.
AIP is a describes itself as an ‘operationally focused private equity investment firm that applies a collaborative approach with management in building and improving middle-market companies.’ Via MAI it bought the US flexographic packaging and label press maker Mark Andy in 2008, which in turn bought the Canadian flexo ancillaries supplier Rotoflex the following year. Mark Andy opened a new UK showroom in Macclesfield in January this year. A US company, Presstek has its headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, with a European showroom and offices in the UK near Heathrow Airport.
Richard Hoffman of AIP said: ‘Presstek represents a very attractive portfolio investment for AIP. The company has best-in-class technologies, headlined by its highly efficient and versatile 75DI digital offset printing press, and we look forward to partnering with Presstek’s management team to help the company and its product portfolio achieve their full potential.’
Presstek developed the first commercially viable technology for on-press, chemistry-free imaging of offset plates in the early 1990s and originally licensed this to third party press makers, notably Heidelberg, which sold about 3000 of the Quickmaster DI A3+ format presses over the next decade. However, Presstek’s determination to remain the sole plate supplier kept consumables costs high. This and the improving cost/performance ratio of off-press platesetting meant that third parties eventually lost interest.
The company turned to a manufacturing deal with Ryobi, selling the resulting presses under its own name. Its current range is the 34DI (SRA3 portrait), 52DI (B3 landscape) and most recently the 75DI (B2 landscape multi-unit) introduced in 2010. Early in August the first UK sale of a 75DI was announced, to RCS in Retford, Notts.
In 2004 Presstek bought AB Dick, one of its former distributors, which had been a significant innovator and maker of duplicators, conventional small offset presses and related equipment. Presstek also sells plates and platesetters for off-press imaging.
Stanley E Freimuth, Presstek’s chairman, president and CEO, said: ‘We are excited to combine the financial resources of AIP with the strong product portfolio of Presstek. We believe that this combination will help to fuel the growth of the Company, which has been challenging over the past few years as a result of the worldwide economic downturn. AIP is no stranger to our industry. One of its portfolio companies, Mark Andy Inc, is the world’s leading designer of narrow and mid-web flexographic equipment and aftermarket products serving the label, packaging and specialty printing markets. We look forward to working with Mark Andy in areas where it makes sense for both companies.’
Contact: www.presstek.com
