Mid-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe has completed the sale of Apogee to HP in a deal valued at £380m. Equistone took a majority share in Apogee in September 2016 and has supported the business in a number of acquisitions over the last two years.

The European Commission approved the deal last month (October) allowing the firm to go ahead with the acquisition. In a statement, the Commission says: “The Commission found that the overlap of the companies' activities on the market for the supply of regular format printers was very limited and that a number of strong players would remain in the market after the merger.”

Apogee will continue to operate independently with chief executive officers Jason Collins and Robin Stanton-Gleaves remaining in their positions. The firm provides printing, scanning and workflow solutions from brands including HP, Ricoh, Canon, Xerox and Konica Minolta.

Jason Collins, joint chief executive officer at Apogee, says: “It has been a really successful partnership with Equistone and the acquisition is recognition of their support, and the commitment and professionalism of the whole team at Apogee. We have worked closely with our private equity partners to execute on opportunities that have considerably strengthened our position in the UK and continental European markets. We look forward to the next stage of our development with HP, which puts us in a strong position to accelerate Apogee’s growth.”

The intention to buy the firm was initially announced in August, in a statement Enrique Lores, president of HP imaging and print says: “The Apogee acquisition extends HP’s print leadership by boldly leveraging the industry shift to contractual sales as we aggressively pursue the A3 office market.”

“We’re augmenting our go-to-market and enhancing our ability to deliver the services necessary to win in the profitable contractual market. This deal complements our broader channel strategy and HP remains committed to building our business through our best-in-class partner program.”

Andrew Backen, partner at Equistone Partners Europe says: “It has been a pleasure working with Apogee’s management over the past two years which have seen the business grow strongly in the UK and into continental Europe. We have been delighted to support them in an ambitious acquisition programme.

“It is testament to the strength of the team that Apogee caught the eye of one of the largest tech companies in the world and we are confident Apogee will continue to prosper under ownership of the enlarged group.”

Apogee has grown its turnover to over £250m this year and employs over 1,000 staff across 25 office locations in the UK and Europe.

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