The deal, which sees Impika integrated into Xerox’s graphic communications division, was signed on Monday 25 February, transferring 100% shareholding to Xerox. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the transaction.
Impika will retain its name and brand at least initially, according to Jeff Jacobson, president of Xerox graphic communication operations, but will be known as "Impika, a Xerox company".
Jacobson said that Impika’s printers, including the iPrint Compact launched at Drupa, "fill the gap" surrounding Xerox’s waterless CiPress printers, which has installations in five European countries as well as the US.
"CiPress doesn’t meet the needs of all of our customers: some still want an aqueous solution. That’s one reason we’ve been reselling Impika presses in Europe and some developing markets.
"But we want to be more than a reseller. We want to be an industry leader in production inkjet printing. To do that, we need to have full control to develop our products to our own specifications."
Both companies will sell each others’ inkjet systems with 55 Impika staff reporting to Jacobson starting immediately.
Both companies’ R&D teams will continue to focus on their own respective ink applications, but Jacobson said that Xerox would be "foolish" not to meld some ideas together.
He added that Xerox had spent a large amount on R&D for inkjet over the past year, with CiPress research being a sizable investment, and would allocate more funds to the development of aqueous ink solutions following the Impika acquisition.
Jacobson claimed that the combined range of Impika and Xerox printers would make the American manufacturer’s range "the broadest array of inkjet production solutions in the industry", giving customers extensive choice within the inkjet space.
He added: "It’s been clear for a number of years that the next big thing in our industry is production inkjet. It’s a big opportunity. That’s where many of our customers need to be, so it’s where we need to be too."
Paul Morgavi, chief executive of Impika, said: "We have a leadership line of nearly a dozen printers and presses operating at customer sites in a dozen countries across four continents.
"We are on the threshold of something big, and we need a little help to get to the next level.
"We have already turned to Xerox for help with our European distribution. Now, as part of the Xerox family, we are ready to it up another notch.
"I’m thrilled at the prospect of what we can do together with the broad resources which we can now call upon. I look forward to doing great things for our customers, partners and industry."
He added that Xerox’s customer loyalty and strong brand would give Impika the global coverage it needs.
Jacobson said that the revenues from Impika would not greatly impact Xerox’s £23bn turnover in 2013 but said that the acquisition now meant that there was "not a customer need that we cannot satisfy".
