Dutch technical-fabric producer TenCate is to buy a controlling share of Xennia Technology Ltd, the Cambridge, UK, based inkjet technologydeveloper.

According to TenCate, Xennia owns a strong intellectual-property portfolio and a number of key technology platforms for both inks/coating fluids and hardware. The two companies already work closely together in connection with the Digitex project, a subsidised EU Framework development project for digital textile finishing. The joint patent position will form the basis for future developments in the area of surface nano-technology in technical textiles.

TenCate, whose Digitex co-ordinator Gerrit Koele is due to give the keynote address at the FESPA Digital Textile conference in Geneva, at the end of March, says this technology-driven acquisition will allow it to own and jointly develop key knowledge for the application of coatings and related chemicals on textile materials and other substrates, enabled by a digital technology that works on nano scale.

Xennia is a worldwide leader in this field, for other applications outside the technical-textiles sector.

TenCate is to buy 75% of Xennia shares, with management retaining 16%. Printhead manufactured Xaar is also a shareholder and is another Digitex partner.