Astron takes over Edotech for £130m

Astron has bought Edotech for £130m in what Astron chief executive David Mitchell has dubbed a “transforming acquisition”. The union of the two groups creates a £286m-turnover force in transactional print and document management, with its sights set on flotation towards the end of 2005 “at the earliest”. Combined operating profits for the enlarged group, which employs 4,100 staff, are estimated at £31m. More than half of its staff is based overseas in Austria, France, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, India and Sri Lanka. The deal, revealed by PrintWeek earlier this month (PrintWeek, 1 April), was funded by a new debt facility provided by Astron’s existing banks, led by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Mitchell said that Astron was “not frightened” of the debt and had strong institutional backing “that comes on the back of doing what we said we’d deliver.” The £130m price-tag for Edotech, which had sales of £75.5m with earnings of £11.5m in 2003, was based on a multiple of earnings plus the fact that 70% of itsrevenue is under contract until 2010, Mitchell said. Edotech was formed in May 2000 when chief executive Sam Ferguson led a management buyout of Barclays’ in-house print operation. It went on to expand rapidly, buying Cominformatic and Lasercom last year. It will merge with Astron Print and Mail to form a new division, Document Solutions, headed up by Ferguson. Mitchell said the deal meant the group now had a more “balanced portfolio”. It offered services throughout the “document lifecycle”, had a “wider customer balance” and could offer “on-shore, near-shore or off-shore” options. Mitchell’s next target is sales of £1bn by 2009.
The rise of Astron:
1996 Astron formed with £5m VC backing to fund buy-out of three print-related businesses
1999 Sales hit £30m thanks to clients like BA and Bristol & West
2000 Astron merges with DMS (Tactica, formerly part of HMSO) and sales reach £100m mark
2002 Extends into Europe with acquisition of IPLS in Ireland taking sales to £116m
2003 Moves onto global stage with buyout of several Hays BPO businesses. Turnover rises to £180m
2004 Buys Edotech for £130m creating a £286m-turnover transactional print and document management group