Epson Italia S.p.A., an Epson Group company has bought the remaining stake and fully acquired For.Tex S.R.L., a leader in the textile printing industry.
Epson Italia which had purchased a 50 percent stake in For.Tex in 2012 completed the buyout in a move that is expected to help strengthen Epson's digital textile printing business.
Located in Como, the heart of the Italian and European textile industry, For.Tex specialises in textile printing inks and other essential treatment agents used in textile printing processes.
Epson and For.Tex have worked closely in the digital textile printing business since 2003 as part of Epson's joint development of the Monna Lisa digital textile printer with F.lli Robustelli S.R.L.
"Later, in 2012, Epson Italia purchased a 50 per cent stake in For.Tex with an aim to strengthen ties and expand the business," Epson explained in a press release.
Epson expects the digital textile printing market to grow at an annual rate of about 25 per cent going forward.
According to Epson, the acquisition gives Epson know-how across the entire textile printing process, from strategy and design through manufacturing and sales.
"This know-how, along with unified management, will enable Epson to further accelerate growth of the textile printing business," it said.
COO of Epson's Professional Printing Operations Division, Sunao Murata said, "Over the past few years For.Tex has made an outstanding contribution to Epson's efforts to replace analog textile printing with digital."
"By combining Epson's digital inkjet textile technology with the technical and marketing expertise of For.Tex, we have been able to generate genuine value for customers who believe that digital is the way forward," he added.
"We will now further strengthen our ties as we seek to drive change in the textile printing market and become an indispensable business partner to our customers," Murata observed.
"I am extremely proud that For.Tex has become a full member of the Epson Group," said Pietro Roncoroni, president of For.Tex.
"We have developed a number of synergies with Epson over the years and with both companies sharing the same goals, the announcement is a natural progression from the work we have done with them," he too added.
"Going forward, I am looking forward to working even closer with Epson to drive further innovations in digital inkjet textile printing and to better serve our customers both in Italy and around the world," Roncoroni noted.
Epson sees commercial and industrial printing, including textile printing, as promising growth areas where Epson can take advantage of its proprietary MicroPiezo inkjet technology.
Epson said it is committed to strengthening its presence in textile printing and aims to provide products and services that surprise and delight customers in this market.
