For the printing ink industry, there has never been a year like 2005. Mergers and acquisitions, which have been scarce in the past few years, dominated the headlines. The acquisition spree began with Fujifilm’s purchase of Sericol International, which had an estimated $275 million in sales in 2004, in March. More deals followed quickly, with Siegwerk Group acquiring SICPA’s estimated $400 million packaging ink division in June. In September, Altana Chemie acquired Eckart GmbH for $600 millio...