Paperlinx has managed to sell a third piece of its crumbling UK business, offloading the packaging supplies arm to rival Antalis.
Meanwhile, senior Paperlinx executives across Europe are jumping ship or being pushed overboard as the company prepares to downsize back to the Asia Pacific, with company secretary Michelle Wong and chief financial officer Joost Smallenbroek both departing.
The three packaging subsidiaries were some of the few parts of the British operation not sent into administration six weeks ago, and are therefore likely still in decent shape despite being up for sale since the rest of it collapsed.
[Related: The ups and downs of Paperlinx]
According to ProPrint sister magazine PrintWeek, all 63 staff have been retained and will continue to serve the primarily local client base, all within a 45km radius of the three businesses.
Antalis managing director David Hunter says the three companies have combined turnover of more than £20m (A$39m), and that he and his team were ‘thrilled to bits’ at securing the business.
“We were interested from day one. We looked at all the opportunities Paperlinx had to offer, and had wide-ranging discussions with Deloitte. But these three packaging businesses were the bits we were really interested in,” he says.
The Paperlinx share price bounce seems to have ended, settling at 3.2c today down from a high of 4c on April 30 but well up from the 1.5c low in the wake of Andrew Price’s sacking.
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