Focus Press equipment auctions have raised about $3.5m to help pay back the more than 200 trade creditors owed more than $27.3m when the printer collapsed in April.
The auctions by GraysOnline finished last night after two weeks of furious bidding by rival firms looking to pick up a variety of kit at bargain prices from the wreckage of a once proud company.
The cash will pay exactly 77.7 per cent of what Focus owes NAB, with everyone else still waiting for their money.
The biggest sale was a 2005 Heidelberg Speedmaster SM102 10-colour sheetfed press, sold for $471,100 to a company based in Croydon, VIC after a ferocious 90 minute tussle with buyers from Brisbane and Lidcombe, NSW that lasted until 5pm.
[Related: The demise of Focus Press]
Focus Print Group managing director Mark Shergill, who bought the Focus business and made a deal for much of the kit before it was scuttled by protracted negotiations with liquidators and receiver managers, was also involved in the final scrum but bowed out.
Shergill did snag a 2007 Komori Lithrone LS1040P 10-colour press at its reserve price of $455,000 after no others were interested.
Finally, a Rydalmere, NSW buyer paid $358,700 for a 2009 Komori Lithrone LS-529 five colour press after beating rivals from Sydney and Ferntree Gully, VIC.
A few pieces of finishing equipment also sold for almost $100,000 including a Heidelberg Stitchmaster, bought by Shergill, and a Hohner HSB8000 saddle stitcher.
Shergill says he also picked up a cutting line, a couple of folders and some CTP and prepress gear. He says he is not yet sure where in his three-state print empire the kit will end up or if he will go after anything yet to be sold.
Still to be sold are a 2011 Fuji Xerox 1000 Colour Digital Press, a Nuvera 288 digital printer, XL75 10-colour press from the Matraville plant, two SG350 saddle stitchers, and a Polar 135 finishing set retained by their financiers for separate sales, along with the damaged KBA Rapida 105 12-colour press that is the subject of a $12.9m insurance claim.
Now that the kit is sold, the Strathfield South factory will go under the hammer on September 16 at 10.30am via CBRE, with the Matraville facility expected to follow soon.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter