The deal, signed on 2 March, is the first acquisition for the City of London-based financial print services business since it was formed through an MBO from parent firm Mercurius Groep in November 2014.

Rebranding as Black & Callow from Imprima Financial Print a year later, the company has now firmly bedded in and has been looking for more growth opportunities.

Joint managing director Tim Black said the chance arose when the managing director of south London-based Master Mail, its print and mailing partner of 25 years, announced his intention to retire.

“Location and relationship was key to this opportunity,” he said. “They are ideally located: because the majority of our work is transactional corporate finance it’s highly confidential and absolutely last minute and what Master Mail were fantastic at was being really flexible and getting lots of bodies on these hugely time-critical mailings,” he explained.

“The majority of mailing houses of comparable quality are outside London and you just don’t want time or risk factors involved. We thought the best option was to buy the business and ensure we were still able to provide that central London mailing which is critical to the type of deals we do.”

Three-staff Master Mail, which turns over around £161,000 annually, will be rebranded as Black & Callow and up total headcount to around 28.

£5m-turnover Black & Callow offers specialist confidential typesetting, design and translation services for financial and legal clients, as well as short-run print and print management, from its 280sqm headquarters near Tower Bridge.

Master Mail, meanwhile provided its main print, print finishing and mail sortation capabilities.

“It’s mostly hand-enclosing due to the nature of the large 500-600pp prospectuses we deal with,” said Black. “The average number of copies that gets sent to shareholders these days is considerably reduced but the size has gone up dramatically because lawyers are drafting ever more lengthy documents on risk and compliance."

The business is continuing to grow organically, Black said, with a recent move into the online space with its iRoadshow offering for investor meetings, while the company would continue to look for “sensible acquisitions that will help us do our job more effectively”.

He added: “We are now one of the biggest European financial printers in a shrinking market.”