Prince bought the name and goodwill of Essex-based firm Mailing and Printing Company (MAP) out of administration for an undisclosed sum. The deal comes just weeks after Prince's holding company Arcnor acquired south London-based marketing and print firm Symbiosis Group, which employs 30 staff.

"We've gone from zero to a 5m group in six weeks,"  said Arcnor managing director Prince. "We want to be a dynamic and strong force in the direct marketing industry, and this is the first of a number of acquisitions over the next five years".

MAP hit the headlines in early 2003 after it bought Chelmsford-based commercial printer Montrose, saving 40 jobs in the process.
Harlow-based MAP will relocate 10 staff to a site in the town where Prince plans to set up a digital division with mailing and finishing capacity.

"This gives us another excellent team of people and enhances our client base. MAP is a brilliant synergy with my own group, both in terms of clients and services. Everything is a great fit," said Prince.
Around 20 MAP staff were made redundant after the firm went into administration earlier this month.

Prince said that he was in negotiations for a mixture of new and secondhand kit for the new Harlow site. Two Kodak Digimaster presses and a Xerox DocuColor 6060 are on the shopping list, as well as a raft of finishing kit. He declined to give any further details of clients at the newly formed group, but said that its customers were "blue-chips".

Peter Petyt, director of corporate finance at UHY Hacker Young, advised Prince on both the MAP deal and the Symbiosis buy.

Story by Josh Brooks