The firm's move to take on MCP safeguards the futures of a "big proportion" of MCP's 95 staff. The company bought MCP the same day it went into administration.
"The company was in a fairly precarious financial situation," said Andrew Duncan, joint administrator with Menzies Corporate Restructuring.
"We recognised that if the business went into administration that because it had no contracts with customers it would just fall away very quickly... so it was decided to agree a sensible sale, which was fully supported by a valuation, with The Print Factory so there was a seamless transition from the company going into administration, to the business continuing," he added.
The purchase is the second historic print firm TPF has bought in three months. "I'm trying to have a print revolution here, we're aiming to extend ourselves into the market as printers," said managing director Steve Brundle. "Wace and McCorquodale fill that gap."
TPF production director Gary Kiernan said: "Prior to this we serviced DM, transactional, smaller sheetfed and web, all of these are new services to Wace and McCorquodale, which they can offer their client bases now. On other side of that coin you have the 10-colour and 12-colour perfecting mid range market, facilities that TPF now has inhouse.
"It gives our clients a broader range of products and makes us all more competitive."
TPF is not only expanding its firepower by acquisition. Wace, which TPF has a 70% stake in, is to install a 10-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster long-perfector next week, with plans to take two more Heidelberg presses, a 10-colour and a 12-colour, soon, in 5m plus investment plan.
TPF has instigated a 30-day consultation period with the workers and the unions at McCorquodale, partly because the lease on the firm's premises ends next April. The local Amicus GPMS representative is attending a meeting at MCP tomorrow (26 May).
"The options are to relocate MCP elsewhere in the Milton Keynes area, relocate to either Swindon or Northampton [where Wace and TPF are based] or a combination of the three," said Kiernan.
"We're confident that a big proportion of the MCP jobs will be offered elsewhere, if not in Milton Keynes," he added.
Staff at MCP hadn't been paid for the week prior to TPF stepping in. "We've honoured all outstanding payments to those staff now," said Kiernan.
The firm has taken on nearly 750,000 of TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) liability. "It's not just a case of buying all the customer base and binning all the staff that's why it's in everyone's interest to work closely together and save as many jobs as we can," said Kiernan.
The administrator is now in the process of producing proposals for the creditors of the "old" MCP.
Story by Darryl Danielli
