Focus Print Group is no longer pursuing the client list of collapsed Melbourne digital printer Longbeach Printing, according general manager Susan Smart.
The group’s owner Mark Shergill confirmed he had made an offer on the business back in October, but said the deal may not close due to difficulty with the bank.
However, Smart says issues on Longbeach’s end prevented the deal from going through.
“It was only the client list that we talked about, there was difficulty from their side, not ours. They had too many difficulties to end up doing a deal at all,” Smart explains.
Smart declined to provide further details on the matter.
Longbeach, which is situated in Seaford, appears to be closed with the phone line currently disconnected.
Previous owner Josh De Goot’s son John remained with the business as general manager, and was still working there after its collapse in July.
According to the ASIC website, the business is currently listed as in liquidation, with Timothy Holden from Foremans Business Services appointed to wind up the company.
Holden has not returned Australian Printer’s calls and has kept quiet about details of the company’s position since its collapse.
Longbeach was owned by Michael Wu at the time of collapse. Wu has kept out of the spotlight since his print empire toppled in July, shortly after he was dismissed by his business partners Moody and Abbey Aboughattas.
If successful, the deal would have become Shergill’s eleventh acquisition since he took over Focus Print Group in 2014.
The group has a history of rescuing troubled print businesses, with its most recent acquisition being that of struggling sheetfed printer Sydney Allen back in May.
Smart says the group is currently focusing on completing its shift to a bigger facility in Keysborough, Melbourne after it outgrew its original Burwood location.
Focus’s Victorian division houses a suite of offset, folding and stitching equipment including a ten-colour Heidelberg SM 102, a two-colour Shinohara, four Stahl 27 folders, a Muller Martini Prima and a Horizon digital stitcher.
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