The announcement that Sensient Technologies has agreed to acquire the assets of Xennia Technology from Royal Ten Cate NV makes a lot of sense in the growing digital ink market. Xennia has developed technology in the digital textile and ceramic fields, which fits nicely with the focus of Sensient Imaging Technologies.
 
Dr. Christophe Bulliard, marketing director at Sensient Imaging Technologies SA, said that Xennia is a strong technology leader in the development of industrial digital printing solutions, and that there are strong synergies between the two companies.
 
“The combination of Xennia’s and Sensient ink portfolios will offer our customers and OEM partners all textile printing technologies from an integrated source: reactive, pigmented, sublimation and acid,” said Dr. Bulliard. “The combination of two very strong R&D groups will speed up the realization of key projects in other areas of industrial digital printing.
 
“The acquisition of this knowledge base and existing products will contribute to Sensient’s positioning as a major actor in the development and marketing of such solutions,” Dr. Bulliard added. “Both companies share the approach of offering innovative, high performing printing processes, making it possible to expand the use of digital technologies in many industries. Both companies are also complementary in that the global sales network of Sensient will be beneficial to the sales development of Xennia’s products.” 
 
“We are very excited about the expertise and opportunities that Xennia will provide,” said Paul Manning, president and CEO of Sensient, in the statement announcing the agreement. “Xennia’s strong technical capabilities will broaden our product offering and accelerate our access to important customers and markets for our inks business.”
 
Dr. Bulliard noted that Xennia has vast experience in a number of industrial inkjet applications through the numerous projects they have realized since their creation.
 
“In particular, they possess strong knowledge and experience in the development of full printing solutions: printer and printhead integration, color management software as well as ink formulation in several media (solvent, water, UV, etc.),” Dr. Bulliard said. “They have contributed greatly to the development of digital ceramic printing to the point that virtually all production is now using inkjet technology. They have recently developed very high performance inks for textile applications.”
 
Xennia’s 2014 sales were approximately $11 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015.