Electra Partners sold the firm on Monday to Mid-Ocean Partners, another private equity house that had been tipped as a potential buyer.

A vehicle for the deal, bezier Acquisitions, was set up by MidOcean and will own bezier Group. Electra has reinvested 5m in bezier Acquisitions, for a minority holding estimated at 12.5%.

Mark Shaw, joint managing director running bezier's Wakefield site, will become chief executive of the group, which posted turnover of 51m in the year to April 2005, up from 43m in 2004.

Shaw, who replaces Brian Dudley, said that recent contract wins would push turnover to more than 65m in the current financial year.

"We want to consolidate our position as market leader. We only have 5% of the market at the moment, so 100m is a realistic aim, with the growing importance of retail media," he said.

"That Electra has reinvested shows its confidence in the business. We're a very stable, clean and low-risk company."

Following the deal, 8m will be spent to expand capacity at the firm's Wakefield, Poole and Bristol production plants over the next three years, according to Shaw.

He said that the final sale price of 77m was in line with his expectations, despite reports in The Times in May that the asking price for the company would be 100m.

Electra will receive 39m in cash upon completion of the deal. Bezier's debt is stated as 37m in the most recent published accounts to April 2004.

A management rejig has also taken place following the retirement of Dudley, who will remain a non-executive director of bezier Acquisition.

Ian Carnazza, sales director for bezier's Asda account, will move up to joint managing director running Wakefield, while joint managing director Richard Courtney will run business development operations.

Story by Josh Brooks