Messinter were founded in Milan back in 1953. Its activity scope: importing foreign press products to Italy and exporting Italian press products abroad.

In 1976 the foundations for the company's current logistics organization were laid, directly linking to the Local Distributors and establishing a team of inspectors. The company also started to distribute books in foreign languages, which led to a general increase in distribution activities, and new important foreign press titles were added.

In 1989 Messaggerie Italiane, one of the largest and most renowned companies in the publishing branch, established in Bologna in 1914 by Umberto Mauri, took over the company. This marked the start of a new and important period for the company: the group's culture, good reputation and infrastructure led to a fast and ceaseless growth of Messinter's importance as a foreign press and book distribution leader in the evolution of the Italian publishing branch.

Messinter and the IPS Group

In 2011 the German IPS Group (Meckenheim near Bonn) took over 51% of Messinter's share. Since April 2012 the company belongs 100% to the IPS Group, that was founded 1985 by Magdalene Coerdt-Wirtz and Dieter Wirtz. The Group is led by the owners themselves, and it is the biggest independent national distributor in Germany.

As a part of the IPS Group, Messinter enlarged its services' portfolio and supports the publishers as a full service provider on every distribution aspect: further to the import business, the national distribution for Italian products, as well as the subscribers' marketing and more services have been added.

As a partner of the Newsprint Italia digital printing company, Messinter also manages the draws of the digitally printed newspapers for Italy and other markets nearby. Newsprint Italia is also a Company belonging to the IPS Group. In 2012 the Company opened two print-sites, one in Rome and the other one in Milan, on Messinter's premises.