Spivey told PrintWeek that the deal, which completed on 30 April, had come about as a result of DS Smith chief executive Miles Roberts' strategy to divest the group's non-core businesses.

"We were approached in December last year to see if we were interested in putting together an MBO," said Spivey. "We had interest from three major high street banks who were all keen to lend, of which we chose one [Lloyds TSB].

"We agreed terms in January with DS Smith, raised the cash in about February and the transaction completed at the end of April. It was quite a swift transaction because there's little due diligence to do if you know the business."

Spivey added that the MBO of the £10m-turnover, Horncastle, Lincoln-based company, which has now been rebranded Forum Packaging, had safeguarded the future of its 83 employees.

"When you're non-core as a business, whilst you might be cash generative and profitable there's always the concern of what do they do with you and who would be interested," said Spivey.

"So, if competitors had bought the business, the worry is that the motive is perhaps for the order book and not for the employees. Whereas, Rob and I certainly saw it as an opportunity to keep 80-plus people employed in a business that we felt had a fantastic future."

The deal was brokered by corporate finance advisory firm Queensgate Management, while tax and audit advice was provided by accountants Duncan & Toplis.

Jeremy Wetherall of Queensgate Management said: "This is a great acquisition for everyone involved. The business is profitable but it wasn't part of DS Smith's core strategic vision and with new investment Forum Packaging will be able to move forward with confidence."

He added that the company, which was formerly part of the LINPAC group prior to its acquisition by DS Smith group in 2004, was targeting further expansion beyond its core paper sacks and narrow web pre-print services.

"Plastics are certainly of interest to us and we've also launched a design service, called Forum Design, which aims to shorten the whole concept-to-consumer process, so customers can become more responsive to market changes," said Spivey.

"That's why we've named ourselves Forum Packaging rather than Forum Sacks, because we do see opportunities beyond just paper sacks of course."

Despite being a mature market, Forum will continue to target growth in its core paper sacks business, where it’s four-colour and eight-colour plus UV Cobden and Chadwick presses allow it to offer a high-quality print service.

Spivey said: "It's a mature market, but we operate in about 15 different sectors in the UK and our main execution is in high quality print, which is very much a growth area for companies like boutique pet food companies wanting to develop new holistic foods.

"They always choose paper and they always choose really high quality [printed] designs and we are the only one in the UK marketplace that can provide that service for them. We see that area as quite an opportunity going forward as well."

Spivey added that Forum would continue to be an approved printer for key DS Smith clients, such as Craft Cadbury and Nestlé, for whom it provides a corrugated pre-print service.