Xeikon B.V. was founded in 1988. In the beginning, their focus was on high-resolution digital (EP) presses with their “liquid toner,” of which they own the IP. In the early 2000s, Flint Ink made a conscious decision to expand beyond ink into other business areas. One of those was the creation of a digital label press. That press was Jetrion, introduced at Labelexpo 2006, and it was one of the first narrow-web inkjet label presses on the market, and very much ahead of its time. After Labelexpo, Flint made a decision to return its focus to ink production and sales and sold the Jetrion business to EFI. It was a significant move for EFI, since it gave the company another foothold in the inkjet space beyond its VUTEk acquisition.

Fast forward to 2014, when Flint Group was acquired by Koch Equity and Goldman Sachs. After the acquisition, Flint Group started making acquisitions beyond ink companies, acquiring Xeikon in 2015. In 2017, EFI ultimately decided to get out of the label business, specifically the Jetrion business, and it is now back in the hands of the Flint Group. Xeikon is currently the #2 digital label printer manufacturer in the world.

Our perspective was that Xeikon was looking for ways to quickly grow market share in UV inkjet label production, and acquisitions are the fastest way to do that. They developed a strategic partnership where, EFI retained the Jetrion IP and the ink manufacturing and sales, resulting in a win/win/win for EFI and Xeikon and for Jetrion customers. At the time of the re-acquisition/partnership, Xeikon was #2 in the digital label press market, with EFI Jetrion being #3. This arrangement expanded Xeikon’s presence, especially in the North American market, and provided the company with a captive installed base that over time might be upgraded to their Xeikon in-house-developed UV inkjet technology, Panther.