CPI has confirmed it is buying Mackays of Chatham to clamp an iron hold on UK book printing.


Its new recruit will join recent buys such as mass-market book printer Cox & Wyman in Reading.


The deal cemented CPIs integrated pan-European book making and was dependent on managing director Jim Daniels staying at the Mackays helm, according to CPI president Timothy Bovard.


CPI runs off over 1m books a day and has 3,200 staff. Mackays turnover is 24.3m and its 330 staff print over 80m books a year.


It strengthens our market in books and positions us in hard covers, said Bovard. Mackays is one of the highest quality low-cost producers in the UK. It has good investment and expert management in place.


CPI will now work from 17 sites and sales will hit around 210m, of which the UK will account for 35%, with France at 36%, and Belgium and Holland at 29%.


Mackays Daniels said that being part of a bigger pan-European firm would help: We will benefit from CPIs European buying power for raw materials and kit, and develop commercial and technical synergies.


CPI (UK) managing director Peter Palframan said Mackays had invested big, and added: Jim is better placed than anyone to produce mass-market books for publishers.


CPI already owns Bath Press, Bookcraft and Redwood Books.


Story by Jez Abbott