Apogee said the deal for an undisclosed sum has made the group the largest independent provider of document technology and managed print services in the UK. The deal was completed yesterday (2 March), one day later than planned.
1,000-staff Danwood, which has headquarters in Lincoln, brings more than 8,000 transactional and 10,000 retained customers to the group, with a partner base that includes Canon, HP, Xerox, Samsung and Kyocera, some of which are existing Apogee partners.
Apogee marketing director Gary Downey said: “The key area that attracted us was the scale of the business and the scale of the client base.
"As well as a good commercial base there are lots of corporate, major account and government framework customers, and these are areas where there is a lot of opportunity for us to take the portfolio of Apogee to a new client base. So it’s a very good opportunity."
Apogee chief executive Jason Collins said the acquisition was a “significant” one for Apogee and would provide the group with “the scale and reach to be a leading player in the European market”.
Maidstone-headquartered Apogee has 20 offices, primarily in the UK. Danwood operates from 18 offices, also predominantly UK, including six offices where Apogee also has a presence: Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, London and Manchester.
According to local news websites, around 120 staff at Danwood's Lincoln head office are under consultation following the deal. However, this was denied by Downey.
“The talk of redundancies was created and published prior to completion and is entirely speculative. We haven’t announced any redundancies and we are completing a strategic review of the business at the moment,” he said.
Over the next week briefings will be held at Danwood's multiple UK locations to explain the acquisition.
“The usual approach applies. Only when it [the acquisition] completes can we understand the business and our focus over the next few days is on taking the time to understand how the business works,” added Downey.
Having received a significant investment from Equistone Partners Europe in September 2016, Apogee made three acquisitions before the year was out: Glasgow-based Direct Business Systems (DBS), Ireland-based Hibernian Business Equipment and CityDocs. Another two companies, North Wales-based Kon-X and Germany-based BAS Burosysteme, were acquired in the earlier part of 2016.
Downey said the smaller companies acquired last year had been fully integrated into the group and that it will continue to employ a strategy of “organic growth plus acquisition”, with more likely in 2017.
With new staff gained from the acquisitions, Apogee, which has sites across the UK and Europe, now employs around 1,600 staff.
In 2013, Danwood USA’s chief executive Steve Hibbert joined Apogee as strategy director.
