The assets of collapsed Sydney printer Focus Press will be auctioned off next month to help pay more than $27.3m debts, with banks vying to recover their loans.
The move comes after Mark Shergill’s plan to buy much of the collapsed firm’s equipment was scuttled by complex financial wrangling between four sets of liquidators and receiver managers.
The liquidation has become entangled in a complex web of entities representing various parties that has slowed the process to a crawl while creditors wait for their money.
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It began with Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants being appointed liquidators for the main Sydney and Canberra operation alongside Holzman & Associates for the Wollongong business.
Then the Commonwealth Bank, owed $2.1m including $1.15m for financing the KBA press, called in Cor Cordis as receiver managers, before the National Australia Bank, owed $4.5m, appointed McGrath Nichols over the top.
The other more than 200 creditors will have to wait until the banks get their due before what, if anything, is left filters down to them.
Shergill says he had to renegotiate his deal every time a new company was appointed, and could not reach an agreement.
He has since shifted production out of the former Focus Strathfield South plant into other parts of his business while liquidators work to sell off the assets.
American auction house Thomas Industries will sell the long list of equipment in a global week-long online auction provisionally set to end August 12-14, but could happen as early as late July with receivers pushing for a quick resolution to the dragged out liquidation.
The kit includes a 2007 Komori Lithrone S40P 10-colour press, 2005 Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 10-colour press, 2009 Komori S29 five-colour press, and the damaged KBA Rapida 105 12-colour press that is the subject of a $12.9m insurance claim.
Missing is a Heidelberg XL75 10-colour press from the Matraville plant, two SG350 saddle stitchers and a Polar 135 finishing set that will be retained by Heidelberg Print Finance for a separate sale, according to Thomas Industries.
Australian auctioneer GraysOnline will handle the sale of smaller assets such as office equipment and minor printing gear, and provide local logistical support with Thomas Industries. The Matraville and Strathfield South plants will be sold by CBRE at an undetermined future date.
Former Focus managing director David Fuller’s Strathfield home is already sold and was settled on Monday. Fuller told creditors at the May 14 meeting that he was likely to become bankrupt.
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Shergill, who bought the Focus client list and rolled it into his three state print empire, now renamed Focus Print Group, says his deal to buy much of the kit fell through after the situation became ‘too messy’.
He then left the Strathfield South site and transferred production to his neighbouring Print Warehouse plant and others in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Shergill says he is accommodating the extra production by utilising under capacity at his other sites, and moving consumables storage into shipping containers on the Print Warehouse grounds to clear space for new kit.
“The administrators had no choice really, it was too messy to keep production there with so many creditors involved,” he says.
“We will just buy what we want at the auction and go from there.”
Shergill says 18 former Focus staff are still working for him, mostly as casuals, including two sent to BPA Print in Melbourne and another in Queensland, with more to be hired as needed.
The staff do not include production manager Rob Losurdo who was poached by Blue Star last month.
Shergill is unsure if he will pursue a lease on the Strathfield South facility after it is sold, as was originally planned, as he is not enamoured with the building and does not want to be locked into a long term agreement.
“The space we have will be fine for the moment, Focus is still up and running and servicing customers every day,” he says.
[Related: The demise of Focus Press]
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