Heidelberg's sale of the Gallus Group to the Swiss holding company Benpac was not completed. The German printing press manufacturer announced on Friday that Benpac had failed to pay the agreed sum of 120 million euros on time, despite the fact that "all the necessary conditions have been met" . Heidelberg also announces that it will be doing.. "assert his rights".
The sale of Gallus, a subsidiary specialising in the manufacture of narrow-web rotary label presses, was completed in July this year with Benpac Holding. Benpac Holding brings together companies offering packaging solutions, engineering, IT and consulting services. Based in Switzerland, the group, which employs 3150 people worldwide, is mainly active in the USA and Asia.
In December, the completion of the transaction was delayed by one month. Marco Corvi, owner of Benpac, had then given a personal IOU for the full purchase price. Shortly before that, two members of the Benpac board of directors had resigned, as reported in the Swiss press. The Swiss holding company has not yet made a statement regarding this non-payment.
The five sites and 430 employees of the Gallus Group will remain under the umbrella of Heidelberg. And "nothing will change for Gallus customers." emphasizes the group.
The manufacturer of offset and digital printing presses took advantage of this announcement to take stock of its transformation program. Irrespective of the Gallus transaction, Heidelberg is already benefiting from the strategy launched in March. As a result, the Group has reduced its net debt by more than ?250 million (from ?390 million) and improved its liquidity by around ?450 million.
Heidelberg's M&A program will generate a profit in excess of ?10 million, taking into account only those transactions concluded by the end of 2020.
And in operational terms, the increase in sales and orders continued in the third quarter of the fiscal year and Heidelberg is maintaining its targets for fiscal year 2020/21 (ending March 31, 2021).
