The two Italian companies declined to reveal financial details, but said they would retain their separate brand identities, and that all staff at the two firms would remain.
The merger has, however, seen Kiian Digital president Dennis Wilby become chairman and chief executive officer of both companies. Former owners of J-Teck3 Italo Mariani and Enrico Grasselli have become head of new business development and head of new product development respectively.
Current general manager of Kiian Digital Giovanni Lorato will remain in this post.
The partnership will enable both companies to broaden their geographical reach and combine R&D resources to jointly expand their product portfolios, explained Kiian Digital marketing director Roland Biemans.
“Both companies do sublimation ink, both do pigment ink. By putting the companies together, we will have the biggest manufacturing and supply of sublimation ink worldwide,” he said. “Gradually we’ll see a coming together of R&D and customer services departments; that will drive new developments for new products in the future.”
The partnership will enable J-Teck3 to access new markets, including South Africa, Brazil and the US, while allowing Kiian Digital to access new European markets, including Poland, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Biemans said: “There’s a slight difference in approach between the two companies. Where J-Teck3 was faster in developing new technologies, Kiian Digital has been really strong in growing at a more normal speed where we gradually build up all our local services. We have our own offices in Shanghai, our own offices with our own production in Tennessee.”
“So Kiian Digital has already established a better foothold globally. J-Teck3 has subsidiary offices but not local production. So in that sense we’ll be able to respond faster locally with the combined strength of both sales channels.”
The aim for Kiian Digital is to maintain growth of between 25%-35% year on year, added Biemans.
The company invested in a new production facility in the US last year and has invested in a new production and development centre in Como, Italy, due to open later this year.
On the new group’s intentions in the UK market, Biemans said: “Kiian is already active in the UK with resellers. We intend to increase our visibility and increase our channels for the product portfolios of both companies. That’s why the main focus is having the customer service in place so we can offer real local support across the globe and not just with a reseller here and there.”
