The integration of the two companies is effective immediately.

Esko is best known for its hardware and software products targeted at packaging, labels, commercial printing and wide-format printing.

AVT makes systems for inspection, quality assurance and process control.

The two businesses have many shared customers, and the combination will result in an expanded sales, service and technical operation.

US-headquartered Danaher also owns Pantone and X-Rite.

Mattias Byström, president of packaging and colour businesses at the group, said: “We are on a mission to build trust in packaging for the long term. This means we are focused on continuously improving the specification, measurement and communication between parties across the global packaging value chain.

“By removing the organisational barriers between AVT and Esko, we are expediting this vision.”

AVT is headquartered in Israel and has more than 8,000 installations worldwide.

The AVT brand will continue as a product line in Esko, “next to other such strong brands as Kongsberg and CDI”, a spokesperson said.

Esko is headquartered in Belgium.