Quoted investment group Boundary Capital has paid €11.25 million to increase its shareholding in CJ Fallon, ODC, Prontaprint and Kall Kwik from 19.2 per cent to 67.2 per cent. Ciarán Hancock, Business Affairs Correspondent, reports.

Boundary, which is quoted in Dublin and London and is headed by financier Niall McFadden, acquired 7.6 million shares in the businesses at £1 each. The transaction was funded from Boundary's own cash resources.

The three businesses were originally sold in March by Adare Printing for £40 million to Panther Group, a special purpose vehicle used by Boundary to park the deal at a time when it was preparing to list on the stock market.

Panther continues to own 22 per cent of the businesses while Boundary Management, which sources deals for Boundary Capital, owns about 11 per cent.

Financier Kealan Lennon is a shareholder in Panther and is group chief executive of the businesses. The management teams of each individual business will continue to run those companies.

CJ Fallon was founded in 1927 and is one of the biggest publishers of educational material for primary and secondary schools in Ireland.

ODC is a franchise management business that owns the Prontaprint brand and controls the European master franchise for Kall Kwik under a long-term contract with Kwik-Kopy Corp of the U S.

Prontaprint has a chain of design and print outlets in the UK and Ireland, while Kall Kwik provides marketing services to companies in Britain.

Donal Gordon, Boundary Management's managing director, said the company planned to expand the various businesses.

"For CJ Fallon, we see opportunities for organic growth and acquisitions, while with the other businesses there's the possibility of adding more franchises and other types of franchises, too."

In June, Boundary floated on the Alternative Investment Market in London and the IEX in Dublin. It has a market capitalisation of €40 million.