Ilford Imaging and Ilford Property companies have been bought out by CEO Paul Willems and CFO Jean-Marc Metrailler. The news came just ahead of confirmation that the company has secured a technology partnership with Lintec Sign Systems Inc. which sees the latest Ilford coating technologies being applied to a range of bases manufactured by Lintec and sold under the Lintec brand.
Under the new ownership a significant part of the land owned by Ilford Property is being sold and the proceeds used to bolster the Ilford Imaging business. In addition, JetGraph Co., a distribution partner in the Japanese and Chinese markets for many years, has committed to enter into the share capital of the company. A statement said the investment “will provide the management with the necessary funding to execute their strategic business plan”. One of the consequences of Ilford’s recent difficulties is the need to realign its cost base, leading to a restructuring that will see a 40% reduction in its workforce.
Willems said: “The last few weeks have been extremely challenging. But I am delighted that we have found such a promising solution for the future of the Ilford business.”
On the Lintec deal he added: “We have established a solid partnership with one of Japan’s most innovative and forward thinking suppliers to the commercial wide-format market. The collaboration will benefit both companies and more importantly our customers. I am looking forward to working with the Lintec team as I believe that with the combination of their manufacturing technology and our coating capability, we will continue to push the boundaries within the commercial sign and display market.”
Ilford Imaging Switzerland has been developing coatings for the commercial sign and display market for a number of years and recently announced that it developed a step change in coating technology for both ecosolvent and aqueous printer technologies. The new NanoSolvent coating was developed specifically to capitalise on the latest improvements introduced by the ecosolvent printer manufacturers. In addition, Ilford also recently announced AquaBlock, a water fast coating layer which enables print service providers to capitalise on the outdoor market using existing aqueous pigment wide-format printers.