Industry sources claim that the two are in the early stages of talks with a view to creating a UK print colossus which would have a turnover of close to £500m (approx $AU1,019m).
Were a deal to go ahead, it would add Wyndeham’s eight manufacturing plants to Polestar’s 10 in the UK and one in Hungary and give the group massive firepower in web, gravure, direct mail and packaging.
It would also be the biggest deal since Polestar was created through the merger of The British Printing Corporation and Watmoughs in 1998.
Neither company has denied speculation over the talks, although neither would comment directly on any possible deal.
Catherine Hearn, Polestar group operations director, said: Polestar is talking to organisations all the time and this is just one of those times.
Paul Utting, Wyndeham chief executive, said: I’ve said for some time that further consolidation in the web-offset market is desirable, so it would make sense for us to be in talks with other web offset companies.
Barry Hibbert, Polestar chief executive, has previously said the web and gravure industry across Europe needs to consolidate, while news that Roto Smeets and Quebecor World’s European operations are to merge suggests the view is widely held.
Speculation has also arisen that Polestar would look to streamline its operations should it buy Wyndeham. A source told PrintWeek: The preferred option is for Polestar to buy Wyndeham and then shut both companies’ sites in Colchester, as well as Chromoworks and Chantry, before moving to a supersite.
Polestar declined to comment on the speculation. However, such a strategy would echo its gravure set-up, where it has closed Purnell and Greaves in recent years to move printing to its Sheffield supersite.
M&A expert Nicholas Mockett of private equity house Europa Partners commented: “In the current economic climate I expect there to be a softening in advertising and marketing and that may result in lower paginations or reductions in circulation. Right-sizing the magazine printing industry for that eventuality seems like good commercial sense.”
Read the original article at www.printweek.com.
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