Tecco is a converter and supplier of coated and uncoated media for the proofing, photographic, production and laser markets, while Ilford is well-known for its development and manufacturing of consumables for inkjet printing and colour photographic processes and other coated products.

Lars Sommerhauser, operations director of Ilford, which does not publish its turnover and has 230 employees, told PrintWeek it made the acquisition to become closer to its customers.

"We haven’t been particularly strong in Germany and they have a good customer base and distribution networks in Germany," he said. "The two brands are complementary to each other. And Tecco can also benefit from our technological capabilities, as they do not have a research and development department."

He said there would be no redundancies as the companies did not overlap and they would continue to operate independently. But he said they would look at ways of working together with things like sales and marketing in the future.

Sommerhauser added that both brands would continue to exist and customers would still be able to purchase the same products.

"In fact with the partnership we will be able to offer a broader product range," he said. "And we will have the capabilities to do things like customising products and bringing innovative products to the market."

Markus Frings, joint managing director of Tecco, which has a turnover of €14m and 60 staff, said he thought the acquisition would strengthen the market position of both companies. "The plan is to grow turnover and create more business," he said.