Such is the scale of the sale that there will be three auctions, one each in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and they will be webcast around the world.
Auctioneers Global Partners will try and sell all Geon’s presses, finishing kit, prepress and other equipment in a sale which could raise millions of dollars, although all of it will likely go to Geon’s final owner KKR, which is owed the first $80m from any Geon assets’ sales.
Brendan Ryan, senior valuer, Dominion Group told Australian Printer, “There has been plenty of interest shown in the equipment. The auction will be webcast to the international community and we are expecting bidders from Asia, Europe and the US. We will be doing the auction with our American partner the Greater American Group.
All the equipment – or whatever is left at the time – will be auctioned at all three auctions.
The auctions will take place at the major Geon sites, the first in Melbourne during PacPrint, on May 23, the second in Sydney on May 28 and the third in Brisbane on May 30.
The auctioneer’s stock list reveals Geon had made virtually no investment in equipment for six years, as it struggled to fill the mountain of capacity it had taken on board with its wildly ambitious print business purchases.
Headlining the sale are half a dozen B1 Heidelberg long perfectors; one eight-colour, four ten-colours and a twelve-colour, as well as two six-colour B1 Heidelbergs and a six-colour B1 Komori. Between them these presses can knock out a million sheets in a working day.
The newest press is six years old, the rest date from 2001-2006 and reflect the long perfector buying spree that went on at the time, with Don Elliot’s Agency Printing and Ron Hoolahan’s Graphics World both buying two before Geon acquired them.
In addition to the presses there are half a dozen binders and saddle stitchers, a dozen Heidelberg folding systems, a pair of Heidelberg Varimatrix die cutters and 13 guillotine systems, ten of them Polar, three Wohlenbergs.
There are six CTP systems, seven mailing lines, mainly Buhrs, numerous wide format printers which were used for proofing, and a whole host of other equipment.
Local industry equipment suppliers will not welcome the sale of that much equipment coming onto the market at one time, especially while PacPrint is taking place, although much of it may go overseas.
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