Walsall Security Printers (WSP) has acquired the name and production assets of Swiss stamp specialist Hlio Courvoisier.


Hlio Courvoisier, which was founded in 1894 by the Courvoisier family, closed its gates at the end of April.


Under the deal WSP bought the rights to its name from 1 June, along with the firms two narrow web custom-built gravure presses, which will be moved to the UK and will complement WSPs existing eight- and nine-colour gravure presses.


WSP sales director Graham Harrison said: "Its a very strong name that well combine with our self-adhesive capabilities; weve invested several million in it."


He said WSP planned to use the Courvoisier brand in markets where it was already recognised, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.


It will maintain a sales office in Switzerland, to be fronted by Gilbert Hutin.


"A lot of Courvoisiers work was miniature works of art. They did stamps for the Vatican, which had medieval paintings and religious icons with fine gold print really high quality," said Harrison.


WSP has recruited four extra gravure printers to keep up with demand, as it has moved to a three-shift system. Harrison said that the presses from Courvoisier could mean new jobs when they are up and running later in the year.


Story by John Davies