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Newcastle’s Watson Burton advises on Imprint Group disposal deal

Newcastle-based commercial law firm Watson Burton LLP has advised shareholders of one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of point of sale and large-format outdoor media on a deal with a South East printer.

The corporate team at Watson Burton LLP, led by partner Andrew Francey, advised shareholders of Newcastle-based Imprint Group on the sale of a majority shareholding in the company to Uckfield-based digital and litho printer, Pureprint, for an undisclosed sum.

Imprint Group has invested more than £5 million in new technology, staff and premises in the past five years, increasing its turnover from £7.4million in 2012 to £10million in 2015.

The 24/7 business, which operates from a 7,400sqm production facility on Newburn Riverside has 100 staff, all of which have been kept on by Pureprint.

Pureprint director, Richard Owers, said: “We handle quite a lot of wide-format work for our customers and we’ve been looking to add that to our portfolio for a few years now. This opportunity developed and was a better solution for us than starting from the beginning.

Imprint is a very good business and one we know well because we’ve used it ourselves and worked with it before on a number of projects. We see it as an added bonus that its location gives us some geographical spread as well.“

Pureprint financed the deal with part of its recently announced £5.3million investment from the Business Growth Fund, which looks to support fast-growing UK businesses that need long-term capital to drive future success.

Partner at Watson Burton, Andrew Francey, said: “We are pleased to have assisted the shareholders of Imprint Group on this strategically important deal.

“The Business Growth Fund provided an opportunity for Pureprint to acquire a dynamic and forward-thinking business which really understands the market in which it operates.

“I am looking forward to seeing Imprint Group grow further under the management of Pureprint – it looks set to be an exciting future for the business.”

Group managing director at Imprint, Dave Bullivant, said: “Watson Burton’s corporate team acted as trusted advisors to us throughout this deal.

“We are very happy with the outcome.”