BOSTON -- Sept. 12, 2007 -- TA Associates, a leading growth private equity and buyout firm, today announced it has completed a significant minority investment in Gandinnovations, a leading manufacturer of state-of-the-art wide format graphics printers and ink. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2000, Gandinnovations offers several models of flatbed and roll-to-roll solvent and UV printers for a wide variety of commercial applications. Flatbed models print on rigid or flexible substrates to create poster-sized advertisements or point of purchase displays, or can be used for applications as diverse as adding wood-grain finish to furnishings and flooring. Roll-to-roll printers are typically used for vinyl billboards, truck and bus wraps, but may also be used to create material such as wallpaper. Gandinnovations has a worldwide installed base of over 1,000 printers, operating in more than 50 countries. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada with offices in San Antonio, Texas, Belgium, Dubai, India and Mexico, and has a distributor network of over 40 resellers across the globe.
"We are very pleased to complete this investment in Gandinnovations," said A. Bruce Johnston, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will join the company's Board of Directors. "With a well-earned reputation for innovative product engineering and superior performance, Gandinnovations has emerged as a true global leader in wide format digital printing. We are excited to partner with James and Hary Gandy to help them continue to grow the business." In keeping with TA's investment approach, the Gandinnovations management team will continue to run the business and there will be no change in management structure.
"We are delighted to announce our partnership with TA Associates," said James Gandy, Founder and CEO of Gandinnovations. "We welcome TA's financial support and industry experience, along with their flexible and management friendly approach, and look forward to working closely with them during this next phase of our growth."
"This partnership will allow us to invest in the future of our products and continue to expand our international presence," remarked Hary Gandy, President of Gandinnovations.
The wide format graphics market is a sub-sector of the display graphics market, which has an estimated worldwide retail value of $100 billion, encompassing both analog and digital technologies. Analog technology such as screen, offset, flexo and gravure printing represents about $70 billion, with digital solutions, including ink jet, electrophotography and thermal transfer, making up the remainder. Manufacturers of wide format graphics printers generated revenues of $8.9 billion in 2006, a figure expected to reach $12 billion by 2011.
"The wide format graphics printer market is undergoing a fundamental change as newer UV flatbed and roll-to-roll offerings replace older technologies," said Harry D. Taylor, a Senior Vice President at TA Associates who will also join the company's Board of Directors. "We anticipate Gandinnovations' growth to continue as digital solutions gain greater market share, displacing screen printing and other analog approaches to large format printing."
TA Associates has more than 39 years of investing experience, focusing on profitable growth companies. The firm has invested in more than 200 technology companies, including specialty printer and wide format printing companies such as Fargo Electronics, Monotype Imaging and Trident International.
Goodwin Procter served as legal counsel to TA Associates. Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, P.C. provided legal services to Gandinnovations.