Scitex has rounded off a year of momentous change for the former pre-press giant by announcing plans to sell its stakes in Vio and Karat.


"The conclusion of the joint ventures is due to the strategic change in the business model," said chief executive Yoav Chelouche.


"Both were formed to boost pre-press sales and R&D before the Creo deal, but after that the resources of the pre-press business were no longer available."


It will transfer its 50% stake of Karat to KBA in return for future performance-related payments.


"Following Drupa and the conclusion of the Creo deal it became clear that it made sense for Karat to be more closely integrated with KBA," said Chelouche.


KBA will now take over all development, marketing, production and service, it had already taken on most of the activities prior to Scitexs announcement (PrintWeek, 15 December). KBA and Karat see the deal as enhancing both firms impact on the global market.


Vio managers will buy the firm from Scitex and its partner BT. Discussions between the firms and the management team are ongoing and neither side was willing to discuss terms at this stage.


"Vios cash needs bring forward the need for third-party finance. The MBO will help improve the companys cash provision," said Chelouche.


KBA was unaware of Scitexs plan to announce the news with its annual results. "We are surprised we thought they would wait," said director of marketing Klaus Schmidt.


"It was important to present a clear structure going forward and to conclude all the costs," said Chelouche.


Scitex is taking a one-off charge of 11m ($15m) in its year 2000 results for the disposals. It was previously taking a quarterly charge of around 4m to fund the two operations.


* Scitexs net income for 2000 was 53m, including profits from the sale of the pre-press wing, on revenues of 239m, which included 81m of pre-press revenues from the first quarter.


Story by Barney Cox