14 DAY TRIAL // HP announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the MacDermid ColorSpan company - one of the most important wide format printer manufacturers - from its parent company, MacDermid Printing Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of privately held MacDermid Incorporated, which is based in Denver, U.S.A.
This move is aimed at expanding HP's foothold on new market segments, where the company now has little or no influence. Thanks to this acquirement plan, HP now looks forward to making itself felt on the sign shop and quick-printing market segments, which could mean an indirect source of revenue for its print services. As the MacDermid ColorSpan company is one of the most important suppliers of UV-curable inkjet printers for display graphics and a key supplier to sign shop franchises, quick printers and other small to midsize sign-making and screen-printing businesses, HP plans to provide through its newly acquired division lower cost hardware platforms and technologies for businesses that are aimed at the print service market.
This new deal comes at a moment when HP's own Print 2.0 advertising and restructuring printer business campaign is in full swing and it will enlarge the company's already substantial Graphic Arts portfolio of product offerings which include digital and wide format professional printer systems. At the same time, it is hoped that this acquisition will also expand the Print 2.0 strategy by enabling the company to easier digitize analog prints as its entire platform related to digital content creation and publishing will also be expanded.
''This acquisition broadens HP's presence in the production space where the digitization of analog prints will happen,'' said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group from HP, in a company press release. ''MacDermid ColorSpan is a respected innovator in UV wide-format printing and should achieve tremendous synergies with our complementary wide-format platforms.''
Robert J. Wenzel, currently the president of the MacDermid ColorSpan company, will become the chief of the new HP division and he will also lead the new product line development and strategies, after the acquisition process will be completed, when the former company will be integrated into the Graphic Arts subsidiary within the Imaging and Printing Group of HP.