Landa also provided an update on the nanographic press roll-out including its “unusual manner” of beta testing and a further delay to shipping.
“We have plenty of cashflow and cash at hand and hardly any debt, so financing this deal was not a problem,” said Altana chief executive Matthias Wolfgruber.
“We’re both private companies, so we’re not divulging the size of the stake – just the amount.”
Benny Landa added: “I’m thrilled with the investment from Altana, it’s a great cultural fit. There is no need now to raise additional capital; we’ve had to turn away other investors. We could take further investment from Altana but it’s not on the table at the moment.
The investment will be used to complete the development of Nanography, including the engineering and production ramp-up of the presses and to build a factory to produce NanoInk.
“Our pilot ink facility is adequate for the immediate future but in time we will build an ink plant,” said Benny Landa. “First in Israel then follow up factories in Asia and the Americas to serve those markets.“
Altana has four divisions, Actega, Byk, Eckart and Elantas, three of which address the printing market.
Last year it reported sales of €1.8bn with EBITDA of €336m.
Actega supplies coatings, sealants and water-based flexo ink, Byk produces additives and instruments, which are used to produce printing inks, and Eckart supplies metallic and pearlescent pigments, including the first inkjettable metallic ink.
Both sides mentioned potential future developments to incorporate Altana technologies into the Landa presses.
“A secondary opportunity is bringing our technology to Landa in the form of pigments, coatings and metallic effects, but that will be as a partner and at arms length,” said Wolfgruber.
Separately, Landa said that the first presses would now be installed during the first half of 2015, a further delay to the original schedule by up to six months. However, before then operators from the first customers will go to Landa’s site in Israel to run the presses.
“Each machine weighs 35 tonnes, so we want to ensure the operators are happy before we actually ship the presses,” he said.
“In the earlier part of next year machines will go out to customers. But not until the operators say ‘I love it’.”
