Riva, which announced its intention to make a public offer in April, has offered €14 (£11.5) per share through a special purpose company, Printing Holding BV, in an agreed bid that values RSDB at around €46m.

Roto Smeets chief executive John Caris, who will remain in his current role following the deal, has spoken often of the need for consolidation in the European gravure market and the company suggested that this strategy could be supported by going private.

In a statement, RSDB said that the deal would result in "improved possibilities to explore consolidation on the European market". It added that the deal was expected to bring "financial and administrative cost savings", although it stressed that these would not include any redundancies.

Roto Smeets' share price shot up by 20% to €13.75 on Riva's bid, which put a premium of 21.7% on RSDB's share price immediately prior to Riva's initial announcement on 7 April 2010.

RSDB said that, while Riva's €14/share offer was at a premium, it did not necessarily represent the value of RSDB, due to the limited liquidity in its shares.

"The fact that substantial numbers of [RSDB] shares were traded in recent months against prices substantially lower than the [€14/share] cash consideration, does in the opinion of the [management and supervisory] boards not constitute an all-encompassing yardstick to measure the value of the business," it added.

Riva has already secured the support of shareholders representing 55% of the issued share capital of RSDB, in addition to its own 15% stake, all of whom have agreed to exchange their shares in the company for depository receipts for shares in the acquistion vehicle.