Vistaprint to acquire Italian company Pixartprinting Srl

02 Apr '14

4 min read

Vistaprint N.V., a leading online provider of professional marketing products and services to micro businesses and the home, 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 percent of Pixartprinting, and 3 percent retained ownership by Pixartprinting’s founder.

As part of the transaction, Vistaprint will assume 100 percent of the majority stake in Pixartprinting that is currently held by private equity firm Alcedo SGR. The agreement also includes a sliding-scale earn-out of up to €10 million for Pixartprinting, subject to the achievement of revenue and EBITDA performance targets for calendar year 2014. Vistaprint expects Pixartprinting will have a net debt position of €18 million at the close of the transaction.

Based in Quarto D’Altino, Veneto, Italy with approximately 330 employees, Pixartprinting is a web-to-print business serving over 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.

It also sells to small and medium businesses that have the technical ability to create print-ready graphic design documents. Pixartprinting differentiates itself via deep and broad product lines, a passion for top-quality customer service, and highly competitive pricing, thanks to a very user-friendly technology platform. Customers are located primarily in Italy, Spain and France.

In calendar 2013, Pixartprinting’s revenue was approximately €56 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of more than 35 percent. Pixartprinting’s EBITDA in calendar 2013 was approximately €15 million, reflecting 43 percent year-over-year growth. The enterprise value (base purchase price plus net debt) represents a valuation multiple of 9.8 times calendar 2013 EBITDA.

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.

Vistaprint currently plans to invest in Pixartprinting to help fuel its continued growth as an independent brand that will remain distinct from Vistaprint in its value proposition and positioning. The acquisition should benefit from our scale advantage and knowledge in manufacturing and supply chain, and in turn add to our overall scale advantage.

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