Mortsel, Belgium – November 5, 2004 – Agfa-Gevaert announced today that it has signed an agreement to divest Agfa Monotype Corporation to Boston based private equity investor TA Associates. The value of the transaction amounts to 169 million USD.
Agfa Monotype Corp, which will change its name into Monotype Imaging, Inc, is the world's leading provider of fonts and font-related software technology for the display and imaging of text. The company is headquartered in Wilmington, MA (USA) and employs 144 people.
Agfa is focusing on further strengthening its position in the pre-press market and on building a new growth platform in industrial inkjet printing. The font business is not a core activity in this context and Agfa believes that divesting Monotype Imaging to TA Associates, which is committed to investing over the long term, will place the typography business in a stronger position to broaden its technology and market base. The transaction, which was closed as of today, will be settled in cash.