St Ives has acquired a 90% stake in the issued share capital of Tactical Solutions UK.

　　The deal will initially comprise £13m in cash, with the balance achieved through a share issue.

　　Depending on Tactical Solutions' financial performance, St Ives will then pay up to £4m in 2011, and a further £5m in 2012, covered by loan notes with an option to acquire the remaining 10% of shares from August 2013.

　　Following the acquisition, Tactical Solutions will operate as a subsidiary of St Ives and will continue to be managed by the existing management team from its premises in Flintshire.

　　Tactical Solutions is a sales and marketing company that has some 320 staff.

　　Lorna Davidson, chief executive of Tactical Solutions, told PrintWeek: "This is great news for the business. St Ives has made the acquisition to help with their overall strategy.

　　"We will remain independent and as our own business unit, nothing will change. We are a strong company."

　　She said there will be no redundancies following the move and the company is still looking to recruit.

　　In the financial year ended 31 December 2009, Tactical Solutions generated underlying EBITDA of £1.3m, with a profit before tax of £0.6m on revenue of £7.7m

　　It is expected to generate underlying EBITDA of £2.8m on revenue of £11.5m for the year ended 31 December 2010.

　　Patrick Martell, chief executive of St Ives, said: "Tactical Solutions is an excellent fit with our existing businesses and will give us the opportunity to sell a wider range of services across a broader customer group.

　　"The acquisition will enable us to offer services that will help our customers to drive sales in the retail environment and maximise the return from their marketing campaigns. I am delighted to welcome Tactical Solutions to the St Ives Group."

　　St Ives added that the acquisition of Tactical Solutions represented "a further step in the implementation of St Ives' strategy to provide products and services in addition to print which would enable the group to add further value to existing and new clients".

　　St Ives was unavailable to comment further at this time.

　　Shares were trading slightly down at £92.75 at the time of writing.

[时间：2011-02-11  来源：必胜网]