EFI, which is best known for its Fiery servers and Velocity workflow software, has paid 5.6m ($9m) cash for Best, and will pay more depending on Best meeting revenue targets over the next 15 months.
Cutts praised Best's global distribution network of almost 1,000 resellers, adding: "There's an opportunity to cross-pollinate products through our respective distribution channels." Colourgen, Computers Unlimited and Art Systems distribute Best products in the UK.
A Best spokesman said the deal would allow the firm to "fulfil our goals even faster".
Best's management team was "very strong", added Cutts. Best chief executive Thorsten Breiding will continue to lead its operations, and will report to Ghilad Dziesietnik, EFI's vice president of advanced software. Best employs 90 staff and Cutts said there would be little duplication of roles with EFI's workforce.
EFI's strategy would continue to be one of mixing its own product development with acquisitions and partnerships, he said.
Best was founded in 1994 by Breiding, Rainer Esters and Hans-Gerd Strter.
Its first products were BESTLink and BESTScript, which enabled users to control Hell scanners digitally and use Hell imagesetters as PostScript exposure machines, while latter releases include Colorproof and RemoteProof.
EFI's share price rose 2.7% to 10.60 on the news.
Story by Gordon Carson
