Tresta Keegan (pictured), managing director of Tharstern Australia and New Zealand, said she had been approached by a few “concerned” customers regarding a rumour that the company was the next target in an EFI plan “to tie up the MIS market in Australasia.”

“When the first person told me EFI were to announce a buyout of Tharstern I laughed, but I realised they were serious and they thought there may be some basis for concern,” she said.

“There is no conversation with EFI and no intention of doing anything but continuing our growth of the Tharstern customer base in the market. We were a little puzzled when the question of an acquisition was raised again by another party a few days later.”

Keegan insisted that there was no approach and no plan to sell the Tharstern business.

“On behalf of Tharstern Australia, Tharstern New Zealand and Tharstern Ltd in the UK, I can emphatically state that this is not the case.”

EFI told ProPrint: “As we are a US publicly traded company and there are very strict rules regarding disclosure, we cannot comment on any pending or future acquisitions to either confirm or deny them.”

EFI acquired Prism The acquisition resulted in a backlash from unhappy Prism customers after EFI attempted to stop development of the popular Prism Win MIS.

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