Yesterday, Flint Group and Siegwerk Druckfarben jointly announced that Flint Group issued a binding offer to Siegwerk Druckfarben to acquire its web offset business, including Siegwerk’s heatset and news ink lines. As always, the deal is contingent on customary closing conditions, including approval by the competition authorities. It’s a move that makes a tremendous amount of sense for both of these billion-dollar companies.
 
Let’s look at it from the perspective of each company. Flint Group is one of the two largest, if not the largest, heatset and news ink manufacturer. While Siegwerk’s heatset and news ink operations aren’t huge – the company had 76 employees in that group – adding Siegwerk’s web offset and news ink business adds to Flint Group’s position while eliminating one competitor. Equally important, the acquisition clearly signals that Flint Group is committed to the publication sector.
 
“This commitment guarantees a long term supply position for our heatset and news ink customers and further enhances our strong focus on the print media and packaging markets across the world,” Flint Group CEO Antoine Fady noted when announcing the acquisition.
 
As for Siegwerk, the company is a leader in the growing packaging printing ink market, with labels and flexible packaging two key target markets. Siegwerk’s expertise is in flexo and gravure inks. Interestingly, the company has a strong position in publication gravure inks, where Siegwerk reports it has 45% of the European market.
 
“To ensure the lasting success of our company, we need to clearly devote our resources to serving the markets of tomorrow. We will do so by focusing on our core packaging printing business,” Siegwerk CEO Herbert Forker said in announcing the move. “It is here where we see significant growth opportunities, particularly within the strongly accelerating Asian markets.”
 
For Siegwerk, the ability to completely focus its resources on liquid inks will be an important benefit, while Flint Group already has the infrastructure and resources in place for the heatset and news ink segments. This looks like a win-win for both companies.