Heidelberg takes over Fujifilm’s coatings and pressroom chemicals operations

Print Solutions

By taking over the coatings and pressroom chemicals operations in the EMEA region of its strategic partner Fujifilm Europe BV, Heidelberg is expanding into the attractive growth segment for consumables. This transaction is another step in pursuing the company’s growth strategy of developing a fully comprehensive cross sector portfolio that is geared toward specific customer requirements. Fujifilm will continue to focus on supplying total pressroom solutions to plate customers.

At the start of the new financial year 2017/18, as previously announced, Heidelberg adapted the company’s structure to its digital future. This move saw the Heidelberg Digital Technology (HDT) and Heidelberg Digital Business & Services (HDB) segments established on April 1, 2017. HDT combines operations in sheetfed offset, label printing, and post press and is responsible for developing, producing, and marketing the appropriate technologies and products for new business models. HDB, meanwhile, is where Heidelberg will manage its operations in services, consumables, remarketed equipment, digital printing technology, and solutions throughout the value added chain. The expansion the company is pursuing in consumables and the design and implementation of new business models are helping to extend this value creation for customers.

‘We are systematically gearing our portfolio towards profitable growth,’ said Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg. ‘Taking over the coatings and pressroom chemicals operations of Fujifilm in EMEA is helping us become a digital company and enabling us to offer our customers a fully comprehensive portfolio ranging from technology to consumables and service.’

This transaction is a further logical step in expanding the Heidelberg consumables portfolio following the acquisition of UK coating manufacturer Hi-Tech Coatings in 2008 and the buyout of BluePrint in 2014. The company intends to further increase its sales of consumables in future.

The acquired operations account for a sales volume of approximately €25 million. Heidelberg is thus roughly trebling its previous sales of pressroom chemicals and achieving a market share of around 10% in Europe. In the coatings sector, Heidelberg is becoming one of the world’s top five suppliers as a result of this move.

The acquisition includes, among other things, the takeover of both production sites in Reutlingen, Germany, and Kruibeke, Belgium, which employ around 70 staff.

The transaction is envisaged to be completed by July 2017.