Wifag, which has 650 workers, made 90 redundancies in May but a further 300 jobs are set to go.

Redundancies at the world’s fourth largest web press maker will be phased in before July.

It is understood that Wifag, which trails KBA, manroland and Goss International in global web press sales with around 10 per cent of the market, initially hoped that the 90 redundancies would see it through.

Speculation has emerged that the redundancies could be intended to make Wifag more attractive for a buyout.

It was announced in Berlin newspaper Der Bund that Wifag cannot continue in the newspaper sector alone and is looking for a “strong partner”, presumably one of the “big three”.

This speculation comes just a week after a rumoured merger between manroland and Heidelberg was called off.

However, with printing industry experts estimating that the worldwide value of the printing industry has dropped from €9 billion ($A14.57 billion) to €4 billion in the past few years, it is clear that mergers and acquisitions within the manufacturers may have to take place.

Read the original article at www.printweek.com.

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