The 98m ($191) deal comprises 62m in cash and 35m in Schawk stock.

The purchase comes just weeks after Schawk bought Leeds-based repro company Winnetts (PrintWeek, 9 December) and makes Schawk the world's largest independent pre-press company.

It gives Schawk a further foothold in Europe with Seven Worldwide's UK offices in London, Birmingham, Salford and Gateshead. Seven's headquarters are in New York and it also has operations in Australia and Hong Kong. Its clients include Sony Pictures, Disney, Kellogg, Kraft Foods and GlaxoSmithKline. It was branded as Applied Graphics Technologies until this year.

Both deals with Seven and Winnetts have yet to be finalised, with Winnetts set to be tied up by 31 December and Seven concluded by 31 January.

"We had a blank spot in Europe and we needed that market to have a true, global offering," said Schawk senior vice president and chief financial officer, Jim Patterson.

With two acquisitions in the UK, Schawk now has a total of eight sites in Europe. Patterson added that there were "likely to be changes" and would not rule out consolidation.

"It is something we will look at closely, and asses the strengths of each location and employees," he said. "The question is do we have the right number, and we cannot answer that at the moment."

Seven Worldwide chief executive John Harris added: "Our combination with Schawk is a natural progression of our efforts to transform our company into an even stronger industry leader."

According to figures in PrintWeek's Top 500, Seven Worldwide, Britain's largest repro firm, had UK sales of just under 30m, while Winnetts, formerly Weir, recorded turnover of 22m. The combined sales figures of both companies would push Schawk into the top 30 of the Top 500.

March: Wyndeham buys Graphic Facilities Group
September: InTouch bought by Matthews International
December: Schawk acquires Winnetts
December: Schawk purchases Seven Worldwide

Story by Philip Chadwick