Geoff Selig rolls up Webstar and CaxtonWeb in Sydney

CaxtonWeb will relocate from its site in Huntingwood, Sydney, into Webstar's base in Silverwater.

The integration is expected to complete in April, with the combined business under the Webstar brand. It follows Selig's takeover of Webstar's parent, Blue Star Australia, backed by Wolseley Private Equity.

Selig said this phased relocation would guarantee no problems for clients. "We are in a nice position to manage the integration and run two facilities at the same time in terms of maintaining client service levels."

He added that CaxtonWeb's newest press, a four-colour Goss, would shift to Silverwater, giving Webstar a total of five web presses: four 16pp machines and a 32pp web.

Selig said the business was still deliberating over the rest of the machinery, and added that the combined business would retain Webstar's existing workflow, Kodak Prinergy.

The Huntingwood site could either be sub-let or used to accommodate other parts of the Blue Star business.

[Profile: Behind Selig's CaxtonWeb buyout]

It is unclear how many staff will move across in the merger. Selig would not comment on jobs, though common sense suggests a merger of this nature would include redundancies.

The combined group will come under the direction of Warwick Hay, who retains his role as managing director of Webstar Australia, while CaxtonWeb managing director Mike Shannon will return to a senior role in the Blue Star Group.

The move seems to coincide with the loss of work for Bauer Media, formerly ACP Magazines.

ProPrint previously reported that the country's biggest magazine publisher had consolidated its work under PMP. It is believed that millions of dollars of Bauer's consumer magazine work will leave Webstar in the first half of this year.

Selig said the merger should come as no surprise to customers. "We are in the process of communicating to our clients, but, to be honest, most clients have an expectation that this would occur."

ProPrint reported in December that Glen Draper and Kim Lykissas were expected to re-join Blue Star after the pair resigned from Geon.

Selig confirmed that Lykissas would join Blue Star on 6 March as executive general manager of sales and marketing, while Draper's start date and job title were still being worked out.

[Related: More news about mergers & acquisitions]

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