Wyndeham Announce Management Buy-Out

Wyndeham Press Group announce the completion of a management buy-out of the five businesses in the Visual Communications division for an undisclosed sum.

The management buy-out (MBO) consists of Wyndeham Kestrel, Wyndeham Connect, JGA Design Strategies, Wyndeham Colourlink and Wyndeham Bespoke.

The MBO of the Visual Communications division marks the split of the Wyndeham Press Group into two independent businesses servicing two distinct sectors.

Established as a division through organic growth and strategic acquisition over the last three years, the Visual Communications (VC) companies provide a set of integrated solutions to retailers and brand owners, encompassing packaging design and brand management, colour management, point of sale graphics, marketing campaigns and corporate documentation.

Together they offer a unique single gateway providing unparalleled levels of brand optimisation across the strategic areas of packaging, retail and related graphics, serving a significant international client list including: Tesco, Kimberly-Clark, WHSmith, Goldsmiths, Cadbury, Debenhams, Britvic, Unilever, Fresh and Easy and Habitat and as well as many of Europe's leading packaging printers.

The MBO was led by Mick Tooley with the remainder of equity held by Wyndeham's existing shareholders who include Icelandic investors FL Group, Baugur and Landsbanki.

Mick Tooley has been appointed Chief Executive of the new company, alongside Paul Utting as non-executive Chairman, who will also continue as Chief Executive of the Wyndeham Press Group.

Kevin Lyon remains non-executive Chairman of the Wyndeham Press Group and will also be a non-executive director of the VC businesses.

"We have been running the VC division separately for some time as there is little overlap with Wyndeham's other companies and it is therefore a logical step to create two separate businesses," said Paul Utting, Chief Executive, Wyndeham Press Group.

"Under this new structure each management team can focus completely on the development of its business and ensure we provide best in class service to all our customers".

The Wyndeham Press Group now consists of 7 businesses covering sheet-fed, web printing and pre-press with a combined turnover of approximately GBP100 million.

"Wyndeham holds a strong market position in the printing and publishing related industries with well invested print facilities and considerable economies of scale," continued Utting.

"In the past few months we have considerably updated the services in a number of our businesses including a 5th perfect binding line for Wyndeham Heron, a 5th B1 perfector press for Wyndeham Grange, updated the cover printing facilities at Wyndeham Impact, and introduced a single hub for our pre-press and creative services in central London".

"We will continue to develop our core businesses through a mix of investment, technology and continuous improvements in order to meet the changing needs of our customers," he concluded.

Commenting on today's announcement Mick Tooley, Chief Executive, Wyndeham Visual Communications added: "This is the natural next step in the development of the VC division".

"We are delighted to have the strong financial backing of our shareholders and they have made additional funds available to ensure we can go forward positively and take advantage of the opportunities we see in our market place".

"We have an exciting growth strategy for the VC business over the next 3 years which will be achieved through organic growth together with a number of strategic acquisitions.".

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