Danaher Corporation, owner of packaging workflow software provider Esko, is to acquire colour measurement specalist X-Rite, including its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone, in a cash offer worth US$625 million.
The move follows hot on the heels of the end of February launch of PantoneLIVE – a game-changing cloud-based colour management service encompassing the entire packaging supply chain – based on a partnership between X-Rite/Pantone and Esko.
While it will become part of Danaher’s Product Identification group, Michigan-based X-Rite will continue to operate as a company in its own right.
“Colour measurement is an attractive market adjacency to our existing Product Identification businesses,” said Danaher executive vice-president William K. Daniel II in a company statement.
“X-Rite’s colour measurement technologies complement Esko’s digital packaging design capabilities to provide customers with a full range of solutions to meet their packaging and design needs.
“Along with Videojet and Esko, we believe X-Rite and Pantone will further Danaher’s leading position in the Product Identification industry and present an attractive value creation opportunity.”
With the transaction expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2012, Danaher says the X-Rite board of directors has unanimously recommended that X-Rite shareholders accept and tender their shares into the offer.
The Danaher Business System operates in more than 125 countries, generating revenues of $16.1bn in 2011.
