Mimaki looks set to acquire Italian textile machine manufacturer La Meccanica Costruzione Tessili in a move that would expand its position in the textiles printing market.

 The acquisition was first mooted in July 2015, when an Italian sales agent introduced Mimaki to La Meccanica, a manufacturer of conventional and digital textile printing machines.

La Meccanica, which is located in Bergamo, Italy, was established in 1977. It has 32 staff and a turnover of $6.65m.

Bergamo is also the home of competitor industrial inkjet textile printer manufacturer Reggiani Macchine, which was acquired by EFI in July last year.

Mimaki, which develops and manufactures industrial inkjet printers and distributes them throughout the world, said the acquisition would further expand its European textile and apparel market share.

Mimaki EMEA general marketing manager Mike Horsten said: “Mimaki has been involved in textile since 1998 and with all the products we showed at [international textile manufacturer trade fair] ITMA and the introductions we’ve been doing in the textile arena, we’re really showing our commitment to the industry for the long term.  “We are serious in textile and we want to continue to be successful in this area and capitalise on the fantastic market growth.

“Textile in general – fashion, home interiors and soft signage – are all giving us tremendous growth in different areas; soft signage in western Europe, fashion in eastern and Asian countries and home interiors in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.”

Recently the company also unveiled the super-wide format TS500P-3200 inkjet printer, a dedicated transfer paper printer for the textile industry, with applications including home furnishing textiles and indoor soft signage. The machine will be available from this month.