Collapsed printer Paragon Australasia has been acquired by Horizon Print Management, with the company taking over various databases and client information from the Canberra-based company.
Paragon, the second biggest ACT print merchant, closed its doors only one week ago after reports emerged the business owed around $3.3m to unsecured creditors.
51 members of staff were notified of their termination from Paragon, but according to Horizon, one former Paragon employee is on track to remain with the business and there are ‘some discussions’ to retain more Paragon staff.
Horizon managing director Stuart Page says keeping Paragon employees is crucial to ensuring the transition is as seamless as possible, and hopes to maintain the customer relationships Paragon crafted during its 18 years in business.
“The client relationships are important and we want to maintain what Paragon representatives have built,” he says.
“We are confident we can move majority of Paragon’s customers to our own database of clients, and we can provide an even better service for them, including savings.”
[Related: Going into administration]
Page says the acquisition is a timely move for Horizon, and will help the business tap into a growing ACT market.
“There is a lot more opportunity in Canberra now Paragon has gone into administration, they were a good company with a lot of key clients,” he says.
“This fits in with our growth strategy to become a multi-city print manager and will provide service extension opportunities above and beyond Paragon’s capabilities.”
According to Horizon, the print management providers worked with Paragon for 10 years, and the closure ‘came as a shock.’
Page also told ProPrint business is going well for Horizon, and the company has been going from ‘strength to strength during the past year’.
Horizon has been in business for 14 years and is based in North Sydney. The company works with suppliers in Australia, New Zealand, China, North America and India.
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