Trend Company Mudpie Announce a Joint Venture to Own German Distributor UGTI

Southampton, United Kingdom, July 06, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Mudpie, a world leading provider of creative trend intelligence, announced today that it has acquired a 49.9% interest in the German based global distribution company UGTI

John Gorman, the Commercial Director of Mudpie, joins UGTI’s board of directors as Joint Managing Director alongside existing MD Géry Lougear.

According to Fiona Jenvey, Mudpie CEO: "We are delighted to announce this partnership; our objective is to strengthen distribution within the industry for both ourselves and other leading trend services. The German market is one of the most important in Europe for us and other trend companies."

Géry Lougear, Managing Director of UGTI, added: "It is our objective to offer a well managed, commercial distribution solution to selected trend, fashion and colour information providers and bring these to a wider market. Mudpie with a unique offer of multi-platform solutions responds perfectly to these requirements. I am delighted to welcome John Gorman to the board of UGTI as joint MD; together we will accelerate the development of UGTI into a leading distribution company for trend information."

Mudpie will retain its distinct brand identity while strengthening and complementing UGTI, a fast growing distributor of Trend, Fashion, Apparel, Design, Colour, Graphic, Print, Textile, Consumer product and Style information. The acquisition gives both companies potential for significant accelerated growth through the sharing of commercial activities including distribution, sales and marketing. Mudpie will represent the full UGTI product portfolio in the UK.

The UGTI portfolio includes Mudpie, Promostyl, Graphic Sport, Kids Trend book, Readymade and TM Fashion Trend Magazin, the specialist fashion magazine with the widest circulation in Germany.

UGTI is owned by the European Professional Publishing Group (EPPG) and is a leading worldwide distributor of B2B fashion, colour, design, lifestyle and trend publications. EPPG is based in Munich, Germany and is owned by the Munich and New York based investment firm Management Capital Holding.

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