The takeover, for an undisclosed amount, adds conveying, buffering, storing, inserting, stacking and packing equipment to the press manufacturers portfolio.

IDAB WAMAC has 120 staff and recorded sales of 22.1m (EURO 35m) in 2001. The buy gives Heidelberg a 12% share of the 320m global mailroom market.

Heidelberg Solution Centre Postpress president Jrgen Rautert said the acquisition built on what was already a well-established relationship. Heidelberg Web Systems was the distributor for IDAB WAMAC in North and South America. IDAB WAMACs remaining dealers around the world will stay in place.

The strategic fit for us is obvious. We want to become a real player in the newspaper market, said Rautert (pictured).

Future research and development of the IDAB WAMAC portfolio would be fully supported by Heidelberg and would lead to product advances, he added.

Werner Albrecht, Heidelbergs president of web solutions, said there had been a great deal of interest in the companys Mainstream newspaper press at Ifra.

He also said that the installation of two Mainstream presses at Trafford Park Printers in Manchester was going well.

Heidelberg would not reveal whether it was looking at further acquisitions in the finishing arena, although it has targeted the post-press sector as a growth area. The division currently employs 1,700 people and has sales of 238.8m.

By John Davies in Barcelona