HP expands its range with $117.5 million NUR Macroprinters takeover

Israeli firm punts HP's Graphic Arts into market leadership in industrial wide format inkjet.

Following its acquisition this year of wide format manufacturer US-based McDermid ColorSpan HP is unrivalled in the breadth of its wide format range. Based in Lod, Israel, NUR is a leading supplier of UV-curable and solvent inkjet printers for display graphics, serving commercial printing companies, sign printers, screen printers, billboard and media companies, photo labs and digital print service providers.

"This acquisition marks another milestone in HP's growth strategy to ignite the transition from converting analogue pages to digital pages," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "The large-format print service provider market is growing rapidly, and with the acquisition of NUR, HP is strategically building an even stronger portfolio of products and will continue to drive innovation and growth with our industrial wide-format printers."

The acquisition expands HP's Graphic Arts portfolio of digital presses and wide-format printers and furthers HP's Print 2.0 strategy to digitise analogue prints by extending the company's overall digital content creation and publishing platform. With the acquisition, HP will be able to offer additional midrange UV platforms and technologies.

According to Bruce Caldwell, Sales and Marketing Manager HP Scitex - South Pacific Region, the deal is part of an ongoing development. "Clearly we are all thrilled by with this exciting development which will only serve to enrich the already growing HP Scitex portfolio in the PSP large format sector," he said.

At this stage however it is business as usual for the local organization.

HP's acquisition of NUR is being promoted another step in HP's Graphic Arts strategy to broaden the portfolio of digital presses and wide-format printers. In September 2007, HP announced the acquisition of MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., a manufacturer of wide-format digital inkjet printers and a key supplier to sign shop franchises, quick printers and other small to midsize sign-making and screen-printing businesses. It made its original foray into the wide format business when it bought another Israel-based company, Scitex in 2005, to begin the development of its inkjet business, which was based on its DesignJet products. The NUR product range greatly expands HP’s offersing in the print for payment sector of the market.

"The combination of HP and NUR will provide our customers and channel partners with a vastly expanded mix of quality and service that is unmatched in the digital graphics printing industry," said David Reis, chief executive officer, NUR Macroprinters.