Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Investment group buys West printing business
APRINTING business in Wiltshire has been acquired by a London-based engineering and manufacturing investment group for an undisclosed sum.
Bex Design & Print, based at Porte Marsh Industrial Estate in Calne, provides screen and digital print services – such as graphic overlays, label printing, product branding and promotional signs – to industries including the electronics sector.
The 35-year-old family business was originally founded by Michael Board as Serobex, before moving to its current premises in 1995 and rebranding.
Mr Board’s son Ian became the company’s managing director in 2005 and later its chairman, overseeing “substantial” investment in stateof-the-art machinery. The business said the equipment had allowed it to become a “key supplier” to a number of new markets.
Bex has now been bought by Amcomri Group, a fast-growing organisation that has acquired nine SMEs in the industrial sectors over the past four years.
Ian Board said the business was “delighted” with the sale and felt it had a “very promising future” as part of the Amcomri Group.
Mr Board added: “Having spent decades building a successful business, our family wanted to make sure that succession planning was in place to ensure the firm’s next iteration was a positive one, and also to protect the job security of the loyal colleagues who have contributed to Bex Design & Print’s continued growth and success.”
Mark O’Neill, investment director at Amcomri Group, said: “Bex is an extremely well-run business that has performed particularly well during the recent difficult trading period.
“The company is a particularly good fit with our growing group of specialist electronics businesses, and we look forward to working with Ian Board and the team at Bex to deliver further success to the business.”
The deal was completed by corporate finance specialists Watersheds. Harrison Clark Rickerbys of Cheltenham were the legal advisers to Amcomri Group.