SingPost to expand digital services with Hong Kong acquisition
Singapore Post is set to acquire a printing and transactional mail business based in Hong Kong for $9.8m USD. The company has agreed to purchase Novation Solutions Ltd, which has core services including commercial and security printing and print-related services, including transactional mail activities and electronic direct marketing services.
The firm says one of its key specialities is helping companies make their inbound and outbound communications processes more secure and efficient.
SingPost said the move would mean continuing its expansion in the digital and hybrid mail business after last year’s buyout of its investment partners in the hybrid mail firm DataPost and its purchase of a 20% stake in Malaysian business process outsourcing firm Efficient.
In particular, the postal service has its eyes on Novation’s variable-data print (VDP) capabilities – the field that includes on-demand printing in which materials like marketing can be personalised to cater to individual recipients. Such technology would help in the business of hybrid mail – turning electronic messages into physical mail.
Dr Wolfgang Baier, the group chief executive officer at SingPost, said digital services was one of five key business pillars in the ongoing transformation of his company.
SingPost has a strategy to grow its digital business both locally and throughout the region, he said.
Baier said: “With this acquisition, we will leverage our combined expertise for expansion into document management and digital printing. Novation will provide us with a platform for entry into VDP, insurance documents printing and other related services, namely security printing and document digitisation in China, and to expand our footprint in Hong Kong.”
Novation employs more than 400 staff at five operation sites in key cities within Hong Kong and China. It was formed in 1989, initially to manage security document and commercial printing services for a Hong Kong banking group, before becoming independent with a management buyout in 2008.
