A share issue in September 2009 gave SEG around a 40% stake in the company, which was previously 85% owned by MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners and 15% by Heidelberg, after it sold its web and bindery businesses to Goss in 2004.

SEG has now exercised its option to buy the remaining shares – a decision that Goss chief executive Jochen Meissner said was logical following the original share issue.

Financial details of the deal have not been revealed, however, Meissner confirmed Goss would continue to manufacture in Europe, the US and Asia, and said there were no planned changes to staff numbers.

Despite this, SEG chairman Xu Jianguo said the companies would pursue "joint product development initiatives" and look to "integrate and enhance sales and support capabilities in some regions, and optimise manufacturing operations throughout America, Asia and Europe".

Meissner said the Goss board would remain fundamentally the same and R&D spend would remain between 5% and 10%.

"We are part of an international company that has an industrial strategy," he said. "This doesn't change our focus. Our mission remains to expand web offset, both into gravure and to drive the development of current web offset markets, catering for the trend in Europe to produce more pages per cylinder rotation."

SEG owns a number of other printing equipment companies, including Akiyama, whose products Goss also sells, as well as Purlux, Guanghua, Yawa, Shen Wei Da and Feida, which make press, auxiliary and finishing systems.

Jianguo said: "Full ownership of Goss enhances our presence in the print sector, our world-class product portfolio and our ability to deliver innovation, value and security to a wider range of printers and publishers."