DNP Imagingcomm America Corporation (DNP IAM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd (DNP) engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of photo print products and barcode ribbons, is pleased to announced the December 31, 2014 acquisition of all shares in Foto Fantasy Inc. (Foto Fantasy), the full-service manufacturer and operator, and the top-class vendor of digital imaging photo booths in the U.S. Foto Fantasy will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of DNP IAM.

[Objective of Share Acquisition]

As a leading company in the manufacture and marketing of dye-sublimation type thermal transfer printing media for photo printers1, DNP operates this business on a global scale, including Japan, U.S., Europe and Asia. DNP IAM was established in Concord, N.C. in 1994, and markets print systems and dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing media manufactured at this plant for photo printers. The company has captured a large share of the North American market for the latter.

Foto Fantasy develops and manufactures photo booths, and has installed and operates 2,400 units mainly in North America. These photo booths are installed at shopping malls, zoos, aquariums, cinemas and amusement facilities, and provide fun photos by combining pictures taken in the booth with relevant data from each location, such as zoo and aquarium mascot characters or commercial facility logos to help create a fun experience for visitors to those locations.

In addition to the marketing of printing media and printing systems, DNP IAM aims to move into the fun photo business. To this end DNP IAM has acquired all outstanding shares in Foto Fantasy, and will operate the company as a wholly owned subsidiary.

[Forward Looking Events]

DNP plans to take advantage of the high quality photo print technology and development and manufacturing system for dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing media held by the DNP Group and the development, manufacturing and operating know how of Foto Fantasy to expand the fan photo business on a global basis. Foto Fantasy aims for sales of $40 million (approximately 4.8 billion yen) in U.S. fiscal year 2017.

DNP Imagingcomm America Corporation Head Office: Concord, North Carolina President: Katsuyuki Oshima Date of establishment: 1994 Paid in capital: $71.98 million Business contents: The manufacturing and marketing of dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing media, software and barcode ribbons and the marketing of printing systems. Foto Fantasy Inc. Head Office: Salem, New Hampshire President and CEO: Dale Valvo Date of establishment: 1995 Paid in capital: $10,001 Business contents: The development, manufacturing, and operation of photo booths and marketing of fun photo prints. 1: Dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing media: A component used when printing photo data etc. via a thermal transfer format. It is composed of an ink ribbon (made up of the colors yellow, magenta and cyan along with a transparent overcoat layer) and a dedicated receiver paper. The ink ribbon dye is transferred to the receiver paper in line with the gray scaling of the image, facilitating the production of a photo print that is at once smoothly gradated and highly refined in the same manner as silver halide photographs, yet is also highly resilient. And as high speed printing is also possible, expanded usage is also been seen mainly from industrial use photo printers, such as photo print kiosk terminals and ID photos. * Product prices, specification and service contents mentioned in this news release are current as of the date of publication. They may be changed at any time without notice.
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