Nuffield Press has been bought by a management team from its main institutional owner 3i and former managing director Richard Holmes, who left the firm last November.


The deal - for an undisclosed sum - was led by managing director Peter Kennerley and finance director Paul Wilson, and was supported by HSBC Ventures which invested 850,000.


Kennerley said: "The buy-out went very smoothly and we're positioned for further growth."


Abingdon-based Nuffield Press, which was established by Lord Nuffield in 1925, has two B1 Heidelberg perfecting presses, a five-colour B1 Mitsubishi and a Linotype Hunter coldset web press. It employs 100 staff, and in 1998 retained a profit of 335,213 on sales of 7.36m.


Kennerley said that the company's specialist areas included academic journals, catalogues and prospectuses, and its client base included Honda and Unipart. "We plan to build on our established market areas where we've got a proven track record."


Kennerley added that the firm's next major investment was likely to be in CTP technology.


Story by John Davies