The two firms have been talking since before Christmas about a potential deal.

"We haven't done anything as yet we're in talks, it's one of the options we think makes a lot of sense," said Edotech chief executive Sam Ferguson. "It is fair to say David [Mitchell, Astron chief executive] and I find the concept of putting the two together very exciting."

A decision on the deal, which will create a 250m-plus turnover group, is expected to be reached within the next couple of weeks.

Edotech is also talking to venture capitalists about the possibility of a secondary buyout.

Edotech, which won Printing Company of the Year in the 2003 PrintWeek Awards, was formed in April 2000 by spinning off Barclays' in house transactional print division.

Since it was formed the company has grown rapidly in the UK and into Europe. Last year it expanded on the Continent by buying Lasercom and Cominformatic.

"We're the biggest firm of our type in the UK, with 27% of all outsourced transactional business," said Ferguson. "We are a valuable commodity."

Astron bought its way into Edotech's market last July by buying several parts of Hays Business Process Outsourcing, which made it a major player in the UK transactional print market (PrintWeek, 24 July 2003).

Ferguson said Edotech had looked at buying the division from Hays, but the company would only sell "lock, stock and barrel", while he didn't want to move Edotech away from its core business.

At the time Mitchell said Astron was concentrating on more than just print management. The buy also gave the firm database management, transaction processing and call centres in the UK, Poland, India and Sri Lanka.

Astron's Mitchell declined to comment this week.

Story by Barney Cox