Papyrus will focus on its core competence in the paper market following the sale of its Ettlingen-based envelope production facility, which produced around 1bn envelopes last year.

Mayer-Kuvert and Papyrus have also announced plans to cooperate closely on logistics and sales partnerships.

The two companies said that the alliance would  "increase the range of services, improve the customers' advantages and strengthen the position of the market leaders within shrinking markets in each case".