As of the completion of regulatory terms on December 2nd, Fiery LLC is now officially a 100% subsidiary of Seiko Epson Corp. The acquisition price of approx USD$568 million (JPY65 billion) represents 10% of Seiko Epson Corp's capital.
Epson was also recognised as an 'Elite' IP company in November - for the 10th consecutive year
Following the September announcement to acquire Fiery , the motivation to acquire Fiery from owners Siris Capital has attracted much analysis and speculation. What is clear is that, under existing CEO Toby Weiss, it's business as usual...for now. Fiery can certainly be regarded as a 'jewel in the crown' acquisition for Epson, with a client list that includes the 'who's who' of digital printing across all formats. (e.g: Canon, Ricoh, Xerox, Fujifilm, Riso, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, HP, Landa, Komori, EFI, Mimaki, Roland, Brother and Epson itself.) Others integrate with Fiery print servers, such as Heidelberg with Printect workflow.
Seiko Epson Corporation announced the "Notice on the Acquisition of Equity Interest in Fiery, LLC" on September 19th, 2024, whereby it resolved at a meeting of the Board of Directors to acquire all equity interests of Fiery, LLC and make it a subsidiary of the Company.
Epson CEO Yasunori Ogawa addresses a gathering of senior Fiery management on December 2nd The Company has now announced that, as of December 2nd 2024, the procedures to acquire all equity interest of Fiery held by Electronics for Imaging, Inc. and an affiliate of Siris Capital Group, LLC have been completed. Because the amount invested in Fiery is more than 10% of the Seiko Epson's capital, Fiery will therefore become a specified subsidiary of the Company.
Several executives from Epson, including CEO Yasunori Ogawa, visited Fiery HQ in Fremont, California to meet employees, see where they work, and speak about Epson’s spirit of innovation and vision for the print industry. Mr. Ogawa highlighted Epson’s key driving philosophy – the idea of “efficient, precise, compact” (“sho sho sei” in Japanese) - and how “less is more,” an idea deeply in line with Epson’s commitment to preserving our precious natural resources and minimizing environmental impacts across all aspects of the business.
Seiko Epson plans to include Fiery in the Company's consolidated financial results from the 3rd quarter of the (Japanese) fiscal year ending March 31st, 2025. The impact of this acquisition on Seiko Epson's future business performance is currently under scrutiny, and the Company will make further announcements in the near future.
Award for IP Excellence
In other news, in November and for the 10th year in succession, Seiko Epson Corporation was selected to be among 'The 2024 Asia IP Elite' by Intellectual Asset Management ('IAM'), a globally renowned intellectual property media outlet.
Every year, IAM evaluates the intellectual property activities of companies and organizations and selects the top-performers that demonstrate excellence in intellectual property value creation. The award recognized companies that incorporate intellectual property strategy into their core business operations and that proactively utilize intellectual property and resolve IP disputes. These companies are selected for their innovative approaches in converting intellectual property into corporate value.
