According to MacDermid chairman and chief executive Dan Leever, the deal was made to improve his company's "underlying growth rate".

"We believe the Autotype team is unusually innovative and its products enjoy excellent growth prospects," he said. "This is not a story about cost savings and synergies although there will be some. It is about growth."

Autotype's UK base is in Wantage and the firm also has locations in Chicago, Singapore and Denmark. It employs a total of 390 people and has revenues of  47.5m ($86.5m).

Earlier this year Autotype won a Queen's Award for Enterprise for its ink-receptive coating used for mobile phone fascias (PrintWeek, 21 April).