Pixelis director Philip Cullimore said: "As soon as the deal is completed there will be more announcements. But were under a confidentiality clause at the moment. The plan is that the new owners have a re-launch at Ipex."

The firm, which produced ProofCREATOR and ProofROOM, has closed its website and its phone lines are non-operational.

Last year Pixelis had been looking for funding to develop new products, after coming close on four occasions (PrintWeek, 6 April 2001).

However, its failure to attract sufficient investment has been linked to the fallout from the dotcom slump.