Ovato sheds senior managers as focus shifts back to print

Ovato, one of Australia’s largest print businesses, is set to lose six members of its senior management team as the company shifts back to being a more print-focused business.

Ovato has confirmed that long running senior manager and well respected print industry leader, Craig Dunsford, plus five other members of the senior management team will be leaving the company in the coming weeks and months.

Dunsford has extensive experience in print and was a former general manager at Offset Alpine Printing before becoming CEO Print at IPMG, prior to its merger with PMP when he became the Northern Region executive general manager. His current role is Publishing Lead at Ovato Marketing Communications.

Ovato executive general manager – northern region, Craig Dunsford, leads a group around the supersite opening at Warwick Farm.

The news comes after it was announced that CEO Kevin Slaven would also be exiting the business by June 30 with Chief Operating Officer, James Hannan, taking on the top job with immediate effect.

In a statement to Sprinter, Hannan confirmed Dunsford’s departure and the other management changes.

“The changes we announced last week focus Ovato on its strengths as a printer,” Hannan said in a statement to Sprinter.

“As a result, our corporate team will be leaner and more focused on our print operations.”

Ovato began a complex NSW Supreme Court-approved restructure and recapitalisation scheme at the end of last year that resulted in the closure of its production site in Melbourne’s Clayton and the loss of 300 positions across the company.

Now in a further move towards alignment to print-focused activities, Ovato has also announced it is selling is retail distribution business in A/NZ to shareholder and client, Are Media, for a headline purchase price of $15 million and the acceptance of a negative working capital position of approximately $27 million.

Shareholders are expected to vote on the sale in mid-July. The Hannan family holds 43.4 per cent share in Ovato and has indicated it intends to vote in favour of the transaction.

Plans are also afoot to sell Ovato Creative Services, Ovato Technology, Ovato Communications and Ovato Creative Services Clayton for $9 million to a company called Ballygriffin Holdings, which is owned by the Hannan family.

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