The Maidstone, Kent-headquartered business, an office equipment supplier and managed print services provider that also provides a number of outsourced services in the commercial print sector, completed the deal to acquire Direct-Tec Group yesterday (31 March).

Formed in 2004 in Westerham, Kent and with offices throughout the UK including Southampton, London, Tonbridge and Salisbury, Direct-Tec is a managed print services provider for businesses and public sector organisations with a turnover last year of £8.5m.

Direct-Tec employs just over 40 staff and Apogee has taken all of them on as part of the deal, boosting its headcount to around 875.

Apogee said Direct-Tec’s experience within the education, healthcare, legal, charity and commercial sectors will help strengthen its position and continued growth strategy in these areas.

Its Microsoft-certified staff and experience delivering services within both the print and IT environment will also further support Apogee’s venture into managed IT services.

In terms of production print, Direct-Tec previously offered Canon imagePress and VarioPrint machines to its customers, but Apogee told Printweek “thanks to the acquisition the brand can [now] offer a much wider portfolio of production printers”.

Apogee chief executive Aurelio Maruggi said: “This acquisition for Apogee helps strengthen our position as the leading multi-brand provider of managed workplace services in the UK as we continue to drive growth in the European market.

“This acquisition forms part of our ongoing growth strategy as we aim to create the perfect combination of secure and flexible solutions for our clients’ hybrid workforce.”

As part of the integration process, Direct-Tec will become part of Apogee “and therefore the brand will be transitioned out”, according to Apogee, which said it will also continue to consider further strategic acquisitions to drive its growth in the UK and continental Europe.

HP Inc acquired Apogee in a £380m deal in 2018.