The deal went through today (1 September) for an undisclosed sum and Ravensworth will now be brought into a portfolio that includes the likes of uSwitch, PrimeLocation and Hometrack.
Previously part of Tangent Communications, Ravensworth joined Printed.com in a newly devolved Tangent structure at the backend of last year headed up by Nick Green, after Tangent de-listed from AIM and became a private company.
A spokesman for ZPG said that print production would remain with Tangent and that ZPG will use the assets as a preferred supplier.
"Ravensworth's strength is in design, sales, technology and support," said the spokesman.
The Printed.com and Ravensworth plant list includes five HP Indigo machines, three HP 6200s, three HP DesignJets, one HP Scitex LX600, three Xeikon 8000s and a range of finishing equipment.
At time of writing Green, who had previously committed to continuing Ravensworth as a Tangent sub-brand in an interview with PrintWeek last year, was unavailable for comment.
A new company, Ravensworth Holdings, was incorporated on 18 July 2017 and it changed its name to Tangent Print Holdings on 30 August.
A source told PrintWeek: "The Greens acquired the [Tangent Communications plc] business for nearly £12m, so you can see that they would have to sell some of the assets to get something back."
Located in Cramlington, Northumberland, Ravensworth provides print and marketing services to more than 4,500 UK-wide estate and letting agent branches. It offers the likes of brochures, canvassing materials, calendars direct mail and wide-format materials, along with e-marketing and design services.
Ravensworth managing director Suzie Pattinson said: “We are incredibly excited to now be part of ZPG and by the opportunities that this deal opens up for both Ravensworth’s and ZPG’s existing partners.
“Over the years we have continuously innovated our products and marketing toolkit and have built an industry-leading platform and talented team who are now looking forward to working with even more customers to help them improve the effectiveness of their property marketing.”
ZPG founder Alex Chesterman said he was delighted to announce the acquisition, which gives his group a “market-leading position in the provision of on-demand print and creative marketing services to UK estate and letting agents”.
“In keeping with our strategy, by combining Ravensworth’s products with our sales and marketing capabilities we will be able to offer our partners a fully integrated, best-in-class print solution.”
Founded in 2007 after it launched Zoopla, ZPG, which changed its name from Zoopla in February 2017, has recently grown to a plus-£50m group and has acquired a number of other companies over the past 10 years. Chesterman was said to have recently backed a controversial legal challenge to the EU referendum result last year.
At the time of writing it was not clear how many staff would transfer to ZPG, and how many would remain at the print operation.
