Effective today, Agfa Corporation (USA) announces the sale of its Duratex® Media business of wide and grand format substrates to Grimco Inc., a leading national supplier of wholesale sign supplies, substrates and sign printing equipment.
In addition, Grimco acquires Agfa's business relating to the purchase and resale of certain third-party manufactured wide format products such as flexible, rigid and aqueous substrates (“Media”); and certain HP and Epson manufactured printing equipment, inks and related service and maintenance activities.
Since its acquisition of Pitman nearly 10 years ago, Agfa Corporation has grown the Duratex brand and is a leading player in the North American market of wide and grand format substrates.
“Selling media has been a successful part of our Digital Print business, but we believe it is better positioned with a company whose total focus is distribution to propel it to the next level of growth,”said Gunther Mertens, President, Agfa North America.”At its core, Agfa is a manufacturer of world leading software, imaging systems and consumables. It is in that pursuit, we feel Agfa provides the highest value to its clients. This realignment allows us to focus on our core business segments and invest more in our relevant markets.
Agfa remains fully committed to our wide format inkjet segment with continued investment in new products and technologies, including our award-winning Anapurna and Jeti grand format printing equipment, Agfa inks, world-class service and finishing equipment. Furthermore, Agfa and Grimco have also entered into an agreement for Grimco to become a nation-wide authorized reseller in the United States of Agfa's Anapurna inkjet printer portfolio. Grimco augmenting Agfa's direct Anapurna sales will increase the Anapurna market presence and ultimately grow market share in this segment of the market.