Italian group buys two big British book printers
Italy's GV Group has acquired British book printers CPI Books and CPI Antony Rowe.
The deal was reported on 15 October 2026. It places two large British printing operations under the same Italian ownership.
Together, the two British businesses have annual sales of £127 million and produce more than 100 million books a year, according to Publishers Marketplace. That volume comes close to doubling the size of GV Group. The price was not disclosed.
The buyer in the paperwork is SoFiGraf, which acquired the printers through its subsidiary GV Group. A subsidiary is a company controlled by another company. SoFiGraf is the holding company of the Franceschi family, meaning it exists to own and oversee their businesses, according to Printweek.
The purchase followed a six-month international competitive bidding process, according to The Bookseller. That is a sale in which rival buyers from different countries are invited to make offers. Fabio Franceschi is chair of SoFiGraf, the parent company of GV Group.
GV Group already owns Grafica Veneta at Trebaseleghe in Italy. In the United States, it owns Lake Book Manufacturing in the Chicago area and PA Hutchison Company in Pennsylvania. The British acquisition adds a third national base to that network.
Book printers sit between publishers and bookshops. Publishers supply the text and design. Printers make the physical copies, bind them and deliver finished stock.
What makes this stand out is the scale. More than 100 million books a year is a large share of physical capacity. For readers, this means the company that prints a paperback may be owned across borders, even when the story, publisher and bookshop feel local.
