Vistaprint Agrees to Acquire Italian Company Pixartprinting Srl

Vistaprint N.V. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pixartprinting Srl for a base purchase price of approximately €127 million, resulting in Vistaprint ownership of 97% of Pixartprinting, and 3% retained ownership by Pixartprinting’s founder. As part of the transaction, Vistaprint will assume 100% of the majority stake in Pixartprinting that is currently held by private equity firm Alcedo SGR.
 
Based in Quarto D’Altino, Veneto, Italy with approximately 330 employees, Pixartprinting is a web-to-print business serving more than 100,000 customers. The company’s revenue primarily comes from graphic design agencies, print resellers and local printers that, in turn, serve small and medium businesses for flyers, brochures, decorated apparel, business cards, signs, banners, labels, textiles and other printed products. Customers are located primarily in Italy, Spain and France.
 
In 2013, Pixartprinting’s revenue was approximately €56 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of more than 35%. Pixartprinting’s EBITDA in calendar 2013 was approximately €15 million, reflecting 43% year-over-year growth.
 
The acquisition of Pixartprinting provides a market presence that is complementary to both Vistaprint’s traditional Vistaprint brand as well as Vistaprint’s recently announced agreement to acquire People & Print Group B.V., which focuses primarily on the Dutch and Belgian markets.
 
“We believe Pixartprinting will be a great addition to Vistaprint,” said Robert Keane, president and CEO of Vistaprint. “We are excited about their product breadth and strong customer relationship focus, and we are committed to investing in their continued success.
 
 “We have a well-established strategy to pursue scale-based competitive advantages in our manufacturing operations,” Keene added. “As we continue to make strong progress on the re-positioning of our traditional Vistaprint brand, we have gained a better appreciation for the many types of customers that make up the large and fragmented small business printing market. We are impressed with the approach that Pixartprinting has taken to serve a segment of the market that Vistaprint has not traditionally served. Pixartprinting has executed extremely well, growing both revenue and profits rapidly with high levels of customer satisfaction. We believe we can learn from Pixartprinting while gaining product breadth.”
 
 “We are excited about the opportunities this acquisition will provide us,” said Alessandro Tenderini, Pixartprinting’s CEO. “We started as a family-run traditional printing business in 1994 and during the last decade, we have transformed into a successful web-to-print business that still places the customer at the center of our goals. We believe Vistaprint will be a strong partner for future international growth as we tap into its scale, global presence, financial strength, technology and manufacturing process expertise.”
 
Subject to satisfaction of various closing conditions, Vistaprint expects the transaction to close during its fourth fiscal quarter of 2014.