EFI  mergers & acquisitions 
EFI has signed an agreement to acquire privately owned Jetrion LLC, a subsidiary of Flint Group Incorporated, for approximately $US40 (NZ$60.83) million in cash. Based in Michigan, Jetrion is a leading innovator of inkjet printers, inks and custom printing systems for the label and packaging industries. EFI expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, subject to certain closing conditions.

The acquisition is expected to add between $US3 (NZ$4.56) million and $US5 (NZ$7.6) million in revenues to EFI’s fourth quarter results with an immaterial impact on pro forma earnings.

For the full year 2006, Jetrion is expected to post revenues of approximately $US16 (NZ$24.33) million to $US18 (NZ$27.37) million. The Jetrion products are currently anticipated to show top line growth of 30-40% in 2007 and again have an immaterial impact to pro forma earnings as EFI makes investments to expand the Jetrion product line and distribution.

Jetrion is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Flint Group, specialising in digital printing, providing a complete spectrum of industrial inkjet systems, custom high-performance integration solutions and specialty inks to the converting, packaging and direct mail industries.

The company is also a pioneer in hybrid digital printing systems for several high-growth digital print segments, such as labels and packaging, which require variable printing capabilities, and has recently announced plans for a full color UV inkjet label press.

Guy Gecht, EFI CEO says Jetrion’s advanced technology and “very talented team are great additions to our inkjet business and are a key element in fulfilling our strategy to expand our presence in the industrial inkjet market.

“We are especially impressed with Jetrion’s packaging and label printing expertise, and we see this as an emerging market opportunity for digital printing given the increasing demand for short-runs, variable content and fast turn-around in these segments.

“In addition, the Jetrion and VUTEk development capabilities complement each other quite nicely. Combining EFI’s leadership in precision color and intelligent, high speed Raster Image Processing (RIP) technology with the market-leading innovation of the VUTEk and Jetrion product lines will give us multiple opportunities to share expertise, benefiting all of our products.”