Cimpress has sold one of its first European acquisitions. Gilde Buy Out Partners is now the owner of Dutch digital print company Albumprinter. It is one of the first specialist photobook printers using the brand Albelli across many countries in Europe and Bonusprint in the UK which it acquired in 2014. The same year Sweden’s Onskefoto became part of the group.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Cimpress acquired the company in 2011 and now CEO Robert Keane says: “Cimpress has benefited from our investment in Albelli in multiple ways, including talent acquisition, as well as by strengthening the selection of our photo products for multiple Cimpress businesses.
“Though we have decided to sell the business so that we can deploy our capital elsewhere, we believe Albelli will be very successful under the partnership and guidance of Gilde.”
Gilde is a diversified investment group with no current investments in the printing industry. It manages funds in excess of €3 billion and has backed more than 250 companies across Beneleux and German speaking Europe since 1982.
It believes that that Albelli provides “a very attractive opportunity for us to invest in a leading player in the European e-commerce photo products market.” It adds that there is significant growth potential and will support the management team in “accelerating the execution of the company’s strategy”.
That had begun to differ from the Cimpress strategy. Albelli has remained focused on B2C opportunities, while Cimpress has increasing been directed towards B2B. However, there will be a continuing relationship with Albelli fulfilling orders for photo products.
Tristan Money, CEO of Albelli, says: “We look back fondly at the six years we were a part of Cimpress, and look forward to our continued relationship as a fulfiller to several Cimpress brands via its mass customisation platform. We are very excited about the next chapter for Albelli, our team members and our customers.”
The most recent forecasts from Futuresource predicts that there will be 25.6 million phonebooks sold in western Europe this year, up from 25 million books in 2016. Senior market analyst Jeremy Wills says: “The Western European consumer photobook market is in a state of sales volume maturity, yet expected to grow marginally in the coming years.”
Germany, Benelux and France alone accounted for more than 65% of the sales volume. Most sales are placed from laptops with mobile having no substantial influence as yet, but artificial intelligence technology will allow resellers to create photoproducts that can be offered to consumers.
Robert Keane says the sale will allow Cimpress to deploy its capital elsewhere. It will continue to use Albelli to deliver phonebooks through its mass customisation platform.
