Administrators KPMG signed the deal with the management yesterday having made 114 employees redundant that morning. Around 151 staff will retain their jobs as a result of the deal.

Speaking to PrintWeek, Cowman said it had become clear that there was no option but to put the company into administration as it was in danger of trading insolvently.

"Financial services accounted for a lot of the work that was being carried out by the print division and when the banks stopped marketing in September last year, it impacted on our business heavily," he said. "The DM side, however, had little exposure to the banking sector."

Cowman defended the nature of the deal saying it was a competitive process and there was at least one other offer on the table and the management team "nearly lost it".

Going forward, the company will be outsourcing its print, however, according to Cowman, only 20% of what was mailed from the site was printed at Blackburns' printing division.

KPMG said in a statement that it would continue to trade the printing arm of the company on a limited basis with 33 staff and is "keen to talk to any party that may have an interest in the business and assets".

Joint administrator and KPMG restructuring director Paul Flint said: "I am very pleased to have achieved a sale that preserves a good number of jobs in a difficult market, while of course it is disappointing that some redundancies were unavoidable.

"This sale allows the management team to trade the direct mail part of the company, giving the business and its employees the prospect of future prosperity."