Reputable Israeli magazine Calcalist has reported that Landa Digital Printing hired the Japanese investment bank Nomura to oversee a potential sale process, ‘opening the data room to a number of global printing giants, including HP, Canon, Agfa, Fujifilm, Epson, Xerox, Brother, and Koenig & Bauer.
Landa printers use nano-pigment ink technology
The magazine continues to speculate that HP are the likely front-runners in the acquisition race, while Benny Landa’s digital printing company managed to negotiate a 14-day stay of execution through the courts, to enable Landa to first seek out new investors.
HP previously bought Landa’s first digital printing company, Indigo, for $850 million in 2002. That exit funded Benny Landa’s next ventures, but this path ended with the collapse of three companies he founded or invested in – the fourth and largest of them being Landa Digital Printing.
Landa develops, manufactures, and sells massive digital printers, each weighing about 30 tons. These printers use nano-pigment ink technology that inject tiny colour particles, enabling faster and higher-quality commercial printing than HP-Indigo’s older technology. Each printer sells for USD$3-4m, with installation adding several hundred thousand dollars more, along with significant ongoing costs for maintenance and for the special ink that Landa produces.
According to Calcalist:
‘Over the years, Landa has been able to raise USD$1.3 billion, all from foreign investors and Landa himself. Among the largest backers are private international entities that also hold company debt, meaning they invested both equity and loans. This includes German billionaire Susanne Klatten through the Altana chemicals group and the SKion digital printing company she owns, as well as the Winder investment firm of Sweden’s Rausing family.
Landa is the company’s largest shareholder, owning 36.7%. Altana holds 28.9%, SKion owns 16.4%, Winder holds 10%, Landa Labs (Landa’s holding company) owns 4.6%, and the company’s employees hold 3.1%. Landa personally invested $220 million when the company launched.’
Benny Landaremains a very active and invested director of Landa Digital PrintingHowever, laying the blame on a combination of global economic challenges, the war in Israel, rising international shipping costs and delays in customer payments, the company has clearly amassed significant debt.
Finding a buyer is essential for the company’s 50 existing customers as they depend on maintenance and ink supplies for their printers, and any interruption could cost them millions.
Landa Digital Printing is now managed by Orbotech veterans Asher Levy (chairman) and Gil Oron (CEO). Benny Landa remains a director but is deeply involved in the day-to-day operations.
Calcalist further reported that ‘investors decided to stop further funding after injecting a final USD$13.2mi earlier this year, which came after a shareholder review found the company would not break even until 2030, and would need another USD$300m in capital to get there (its assets today amount to just USD$88m)’.
The upshot is that even if Landa Digital Printing is sold, the deal will mostly serve to repay debt, hence reports that ‘a fire-sale to the highest bidder’ could be imminent.
