The move comes after a scheduled auction of the Superfine’s assets late last month was shelved by the administrators Dean Wilcocks Shephard.

Auction house Dominion Group posted a last-minute cancellation notice on its website under “order of the administrators of Superfine Printing”.

Administrator Adam Shepard told ProPrint that the auction was cancelled because secured creditor NAB had managed to sell Superfine’s assets to Focus Press.

Focus Press managing director David Fuller (pictured) confirmed that he had taken on the company’s assets, including a 10-colour Heidelberg perfector. He added that he had employed 20 of Superfine’s workers, including some executive staff.

“I have bought the assets of Superfine Printing. The company is still in administration. I’m not privy to the legal aspects of this,” he said.

In the past three years, Focus has acquired two wayward Sydney print businesses: Greenloch Print Essentials and Fast Proof. In April, this year Fuller announced a joint venture with Superfine Printing, describing it as “an innovative approach to industry consolidation”.

Shepard said: “We will be calling a meeting for creditors to hopefully resolve to liquidate the company in the next few weeks.”

He added that Superfine’s unsecured creditors would not secure a dividend and that insolvent trading investigations would be made against its previous directors.

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