4imprint Group, a merchandising specialist, has bought promotional products manufacturer Supreme Group for £12 million.

4imprint Group, a merchandising specialist, has bought promotional products manufacturer Supreme Group for £12 million.

On completion 4imprint paid £4 million in cash with £1 million, including interest, due July 2008. The terms of the deal include 4imprint assuming some £7 million of Supreme’s debt. HSBC also funded the deal.

4imprint plans to merge Supreme with its two trade supply businesses, Product Source and MT Golf, into a single company. The new business will be led by Supreme’s managing director and founder Russell Vaughan, who becomes its chief executive.

The deal was structured by McInnes Corporate Finance with the Manchester office of Grant Thornton advising on the tax aspects of the deal.

Blackpool-based Supreme, which was established in 1990, has 200 employees making a range of promotional products such as key rings, mousemats, branded pad blocks, corporate mugs and badges.

It is products are used by organisations such as Virgin, Nokia, HSBC, The Royal Bank of Scotland, T-Mobile, BT, O2, Astra Zenica, BMW, Hilton Hotels and Burger King.

In its unaudited management accounts for the year ending July 2006 Supreme recorded sales worth £12 million, showing an operating profit of some £1.4 million.

4imprint reported sales of more than £55 million in its interim report for the first six month of this year, generating a profit before tax and exceptional items of some £3.2 million.