Print acquisition tycoon and Focus Print owner Mark Shergill says he is eyeing the purchase of Michael Wu’s failed Melbourne printer Longbeach after making a bid on its machinery.

Shergill confirms to ProPrint he made the bid six weeks ago, however he is still waiting to hear back from the banks, which may be a long process. If the offer is accepted Longbeach will be Shergill’s eleventh acquisition in two years, almost all of them businesses that have gone under.

The Focus Print CEO has a reputation for grooming collapsed printers into success – Shergill rescued troubled sheetfed printer Sydney Allen in May, revived stricken Focus Press in 2014 and bought Queensland’s Dynamic Print Communications out of receivership the same year.

[Related: Smooth changeover for Sydney Allen after Focus sale]

Since purchasing Sydney Allen Shergill consolidated his group of companies including LPS, PrintWarehouse, Focus Press and BPA Print Group into an umbrella parent business called Focus Print Group.

Longbeach went belly-up in August following a tough few months for Melbourne’s former print high-flyer Michael Wu.

The business position of Longbeach had been unclear for several months after the digital printer mysteriously closed in July and reopened only weeks later. It finally fell into liquidation on August 10.

Wu had been ejected from Vic mega-merger Docklands Ability Group after the Aboughattas brothers found he had been dishonest about Ability Press’ financial position prior to the group union. His printer On Demand was also liquidated last month after two years under his ownership

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