X-Rite to Acquire Pantone

X-Rite, the provider of color solutions for measuring, formulating, matching, and simulating color, has agreed to purchase Pantone, the color-standards company, for $180 million. Pantone, which has also developed products such as the huey and hueyPro color-calibration systems, will become a new business unit within X-Rite, and current Pantone leaders will continue to play key roles in the organization. The deal is expected to close in the fall of this year.

“Larry Herbert [Pantone CEO] and his team have built Pantone into a very successful business and we are delighted that it will now be part of the X-Rite family,” says Tom Vacchiano, CEO of X-Rite. “This iconic brand is the perfect complement to X-Rite’s business, bringing Pantone’s expertise and market position in color communication and standards to our color solutions product offerings. We are confident that we can successfully blend the Pantone integration with our existing responsibilities as we evolve into a faster growing, more diverse business.”

“Pantone and X-Rite have enjoyed a strategic partnership in providing color management solutions for the digital imaging market for the last 2 years,” says Larry Herbert, CEO of Pantone. “Our company is wholly committed to color communication and inspiration and we are enthusiastic about combining our growing business with X-Rite to apply even greater resources to this work.”

In the past few years, X-Rite has acquired a trio of companies, including: Monaco Systems (2003), ICC Tools (2005), GretagMacbeth/Amazys Holding (2006), and now Pantone. X-Rite reports that it anticipates the following strategic, operational, and financial benefits as a result of the Pantone acquisition:

* Deepening X-Rite’s range of offerings by adding Pantone’s color standards to its leadership position in hardware, software, and services solutions;

* Leveraging X-Rite’s global presence and distribution capabilities to expand the reach of Pantone’s color solutions;

* Enhancing X-Rite’s revenue-generating opportunities and further diversifying its revenue base;

* Accelerating technology and business model innovation; and

* Achieving significant synergies in marketing, operations and administration.

Headquartered in Carlstadt, NJ, Pantone has expanded its color-matching system to other industries where accurate color reproductions are critical, including digital technology, fashion, home, plastics, architecture and contract interiors, and paint. The company generated revenues of approximately $42 million in 2006 with adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of approximately 27% of revenue. Pantone sells its products, services and technology directly, and through licensees in more than 100 countries in the graphic-arts, fashion, home, interior, plastics, architectural, paint, industrial design and consumer markets.

X-RITE
www.x-rite.com

PANTONE
www.pantone.com