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Dubai: Eastman Kodak Company has announced it is looking to sell its Prosper enterprise inkjet business.
Kodak is in talks with prospective buyers about offers to purchase the business, with its Prosper press platform, Prosper S Series imprinting systems, and related products, the company said on 15 March.
“The Prosper business has significant potential for accelerated growth,” said Jeff Clarke, Kodak CEO. “To achieve its full economic potential, Prosper will be best leveraged by a company with a larger sales and distribution footprint in digital printing markets.
“We have received strategic interest in the Prosper business from companies and their financial representatives. We will continue to invest in Prosper during the sale process. This is an exceptional technology and product set, highly valued by the printing industry.”
Sagent Advisors, an independent investment bank, and DC Advisory, a European corporate finance adviser, which both have Daiwa Securities, a Japanese investment bank, as a shareholder, have been engaged by Kodak to manage the sale process.
“The market opportunity for Prosper will expand even further with the planned introduction of Kodak Ultrastream, a next-generation inkjet writing system with significantly enhanced performance,” said Philip Cullimore, president of Kodak’s Enterprise Inkjet Systems division and the Micro 3D Printing & Packaging Division. “Ultrastream will move production inkjet into the mainstream of commercial printing and packaging.”
Kodak will feature live demonstrations of Ultrastream at Drupa 2016.
Kodak is also looking to sell its silver metal mesh technology. The company said it will continue to develop leading-edge technology in this segment but has decided to focus on copper.
“Based on feedback from industry participants, it’s clear our fully additive copper metal mesh is the winning approach in terms of overall cost, setup cost and scalability to larger screens — where we see the most significant opportunities,” said Cullimore.
