Mark Shergill who bought the collapsed Focus Press, says because the sale happened so quickly, unlike his acquisition of Melbourne printer BPA Print Group last year which had spent six weeks in administration, he is confident of retaining more than half of the business.

Speaking to ProPrint he says: “All I’ve been doing for the past three weeks is reassuring Focus clients that the business will continue in some form with us,” he says.

Shergill says he took the opportunity to acquire the business as it is a perfect complement for his growing print empire.

“Focus is a great fit for our business because we mainly do the smaller offset in NSW and this gives us full size capability in all our markets across three states. It completes the picture,” he says.

[Related: The demise of Focus Press]

Shergill says he was not one of the original three potential buyers negotiating with Fuller the weekend of Focus’ collapse, and only came in after all three had fallen through, first hearing about the printer’s troubles in the media.

“I couldn’t believe it when I was told everyone had been sent home because I’d looked up to that business, they’re right next door and have such a great name in the marketplace,” he says.

“Sure we haven’t been able to save all the jobs but if we hadn’t been able to step in there would be nothing left”

Shergill says about ten staff from the 160 or so on the Focus payroll have already been rehired under production manager Rob Losurdo to continue work at the Focus Strathfield South site, where operations and equipment from the former Matraville and Wollongong sites will be consolidated in coming weeks.

This will give Shergill’s three-state print empire full-size B1 offset capacity across the eastern seaboard, something it had previously lacked in NSW.

If Shergill’s plan works out it will eventually allow him to rehire about 50 of Focus’ 125 Sydney and 38 Wollongong staff. He says Losurdo has a list of former staff and is calling to rehire them as production increases.

His April 17 deal with former Focus managing director David Fuller includes much of the equipment from the three sites, and will add a Cannon ImagePress 1125 digital press, Komori Lithrone 1040 offset press, a Heidelberg Speedmaster 102, and a huge array of prepress and finishing equipment to Shergill’s NSW capability.

It also includes Wollongong’s damaged KBA 12-colour B1 perfector press that is currently going through an insurance claim, as long as the Commonwealth Bank, which has it as a secured asset, approves the sale.

Shergill won’t be taking some of the kit from Focus Matraville which includes a Heidelberg XL 75 ten-colour press and Canon C7010 Image Runner digital presse; and neither will he take Wollongong’s Fujifilm Jet Press 540W inkjet press.

However, the acquisition of all assets is dependent on administrators from Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants as the machines may be secured assets of trade creditors, or be sold to pay off Focus’ debts – which ProPrint understands total an eight-figure sum.

[Related: More mergers and acquisitions news]

Shergill says he has secured a ten-month lease on the Strathfield South facility, next door to his Printwarehouse facility and visible from his boardroom window, which will give him time to expand his building into available land surrounding it, as current floorspace is almost full. He will then consolidate everything into there.

He says the Focus building is ‘not great’ and he would like to get it all moved in quickly, but doesn’t rule out extending the lease if necessary. “We won’t have to move everything in a hurry, that’s the last thing we want,” he says.

Shergill says consolidating what is left of the business into one site is in the interests of clients as Focus were doing different parts of each job at different locations and wasting time and money moving things between them, which helped accelerate its downfall.

“Logistically it would have been a nightmare, so we’re going to streamline everything,” he says.

Shergill says while he needs experienced production staff right now he would like to bring in some of Wollongong’s apprentices if they are happy to relocate to Sydney.

“I liked that about the Wollongong site, there were trainees that were very keen to learn and get into the industry, and I’d like to have a balance of staff,” he says.

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