It was a very amicable handover of the business, which we will now look to grow and broaden, said Parker, who with Burberry bought 100% of the firms share capital.
Parker said White had decided to retire and pass the business on to like-minded individuals.
Managing director Rod Gutteridge also retired, and his role will now be occupied by Burberry.
Parker and Burberry were finance director and managing director respectively at Leeds-based packaging firm Thomas Waide, which went into receivership in 2000. The company was then bought by a private investor and split into Waide Packaging in Leeds and Gloucester-based Plastibox, at which point both Burberry and Parker departed (PrintWeek, 24 March 2000).
They had first come into contact with White and WCP through Plastibox, which was supplied by WCP.
WCP, which uses mainly Heidelberg equipment, has two main business areas: printing on plastics, polypropylene and PET; and the Dufex process foil engraving, which is used for greetings cards and collectable cards, and is owned by publisher and client FJ Warren.
Parker wants to build the service and support provided by WCP to UK plastics converters, and said he would also look at rebuilding its paper and board printing side to focus primarily on the cartonboard industry.
WCP was founded in the 1880s, employs 62 staff and has sales of around 5m.
Story by Andy Scott
