Quebecor World is to sell its European arm to Hombergh/De Pundert (HHBV) Group in a deal valued at €133m (£104m).
RSDB, parent of Roto Smeets, has announced HHBV has offered to buy out its shares at €40 each, valuing the company at €131.6m, including the 2007 dividend.
Speaking on behalf of HHBV, RSDB chief executive John Caris told PrintWeek: ” It’s the strategy I have talked about for a long time: to create a print platform with a good footprint. We want to have the lead in that. This is the first step.”
Hendrik van den Hombergh, founder and partner of HHBV, said: “We are very excited about this opportunity and we are looking forward to working with local management to make this transaction a success for our employees and our customers. This transaction is a first and major step in our goal of building a Pan-European printing platform.”
Caris said that even with these acquisitions, there are plans to grow the group further.
“It’s the goal of us to create a bigger group,” he said, adding that plans included further strengthening its grip in Western Europe.
While at least the management team at RSDB will remain in place, ultimately the deals will result in some redundancies and closures, although details have not been finalised.
“But it’s 100% sure,” said Caris. “Consolidation in the industry means plants will disappear in the market. It’s necessary to make the industry more healthy.
“The attraction of the commercial print market to [HHBV] is that it is in consolidation. These are entrepreneurs – they already have a background in investing in consolidating industries such as steel, and concrete. It’s not a growing industry.”
Caris was also confident that the deal wouldn’t create any problems with the competition authorities.
“We don’t see any competition issue at all with this. The acquisition of Quebecor World for us is not an item,” he said.
Indeed, last December the European Commission cleared a bid by RSDB for Quebecor World Europe (QWE), saying it “would not significantly impede effective competition.”
Caris was also positive about the prospects for the HHBV deal meeting shareholder approval, citing earlier announcements that the company had already gained a majority in favour.
“The vote is yet to be made, but the support is there,” he said. “It’s different from December. I’m confident that this will go through.”
The reference to December marked the shareholder revolt that stymied RSDB’s $341m (£173m) bid for QWE in November 2007. The ill-fated offer led to the collapse of QWE’s UK plant in Corby.
Unlike HHBV’s offer for RSDB, the QWE deal is not subject to approval from shareholders in either party and will result in a €46.6m net payment to Quebecor World, which is currently in bankruptcy protection, some of which will be returned to backers of its credit facility.
HHBV will also put aside €46.5m in an escrow account to cover Quebecor World Europe operational costs to be released when the deal closes at the end of June 2008 and will take on €65m of net debt and a €21.5m five-year note from Quebecor World that pays back interest at 7% annually.
Quebecor World president and chief executive Jacques Mallette said: “The sale of our European operations is an important step in our restructuring activities that we believe should enable us to exit creditor protection in North America as a stronger player in our industry.”
Read the original article at www.printweek.com.
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