Pyramid International acquires the Art Group
Pyramid International announces the conclusion of negotiations to purchase KPMG, a selection of the assets and brand name of The Art Group, which went into administration on 28 June 2010.
The Art Group, an internationally renowned publisher of contemporary wall art and greetings cards, has been regarded as market leader for many years: its “art on demand” business operates in many high profile accounts.
Pyramid International’s vision is to develop the brand and continue to work with the best artists and licenses in an ongoing programme of new product development and publishing.
The wall art business will be developed by the Pyramid team with help from some of the former employees of The Art Group. It is hoped that the nucleus of the design team can be kept together to help drive the business forward, with the added benefit of Pyramid’s worldwide licensing connections.
The greetings card arm of the business will be jointly run with Is It Art?, which sells and distributes greetings cards to the majority of UK accounts.
The managing director of Is It Art?, Martin Nevin, recently appointed The Art Group’s former sales director for greetings cards, John Sutton, to head up sales for the new venture. Together they hope to not only maintain the position of the greetings card business in the marketplace, but to grow and develop it going forward.
The USA arm of The Art Group, based in Yonkers, New York, will be supported by Pyramid America. It is hoped that some of the former employees will join the US office to maintain and develop the business in America. The new venture will continue without the massive overhead that the previous operation suffered with in terms of production and warehousing. The savings generated will provide a major contribution that enables the brand to be developed.
The managing director of Pyramid International, Ally Mayer, stated: ”I am extremely pleased at the opportunity to be involved with such a market leading company and hope to be able to develop The Art Group name in both the wall art and greetings card markets at an international level. ”Key positions in the new venture will hopefully be offered to former staff of The Art Group, to help drive the new venture and continue the fantastic work that they achieved in such difficult circumstances previously.
“Many key retailers have already indicated that they are happy the brand has been maintained,” Mayer continued saying “and that they will fully support the new team in terms of retail space and future plans.”
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