Reeds makes £200,000 print investment
Independent print, signage, and digital agency, Reeds, has invested in a range of new production technology, including a HP Latex R2000 hybrid flatbed printer
Brother Industries has officially acquired machine manufacturer, Mutoh, which is now a consolidated subsidiary of the wider Brother portfolio
Japanese print hardware manufacturer, Brother Industries, has officially acquired manufacturer, Mutoh Holdings, as part of its plans for expansion into the industrial printing sector.
Brother recently announced that its ¥35bn (£170m) tender offer had succeeded, with Mutoh now a consolidated subsidiary of Brother as of March 30th.
Brother Industries first announced its ambitions to acquire the outstanding shares of Mutoh Holdings in February, including the company’s wide-format printer business, in order to support its strategic growth plans.
At the time of the first announcement, Mutoh's board of directors had already expressed its support of the offer and recommended the company’s shareholders to tender their shares.
The board concluded that joining Brother would strengthen product competitiveness and expand market reach by leveraging Brother's broader sales and service networks.
A number of released documents from Brother outlined the commencement of the tender offer, which presented its aims to secure a stronger product lineup and market position within the printing sector.
According to the documents, Brother used its own funds for the acquisition, with one of the core justifications of the purchase being to benefit from economies of scale through joint procurement and standardisation of manufacturing.
The purchase now classifies Mutoh as a specified subsidiary of Brother, opening the door for significant corporate restructuring, with the process resulting in Mutoh being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Brother completed its initial tender offer on March 23rd, securing 88.01% of Mutoh's voting rights. Settlement for these shares officially began on March 30th.
Brother has officially announced its intention to launch ‘squeeze-out’ mechanisms, in order to acquire the remaining 11.99% of shares from minority shareholders who did not participate in the initial tender.
Brother already owns Domino Printing Sciences, which it purchased in 2015 for an estimated £1.03bn to strengthen its global footprint in industrial coding, marking, and digital label printing.
