Administrators handling the insolvency of Landa Digital Printing have received an offer of $80 million for the business. This has come from Israel’s largest investment fund FIMI and will need to be accepted by the administrators, the court and company’s creditors before it can be accepted. The deadline for offers is the end of the month so this may not be the final word on the matter. HP is reported to have accessed all the available documents and to be considering a bid.
It does however suggest that Landa and its technology will survive. And should the offer be accepted, FIMI will be acquiring a business that has received $1.3 billion of investment for what seems a pittance. However, $80 million is likely to be just the start of a longer term investment.
There are 50 or so presses in operation and forming the basis of many print businesses across the world, including Bluetree Group which has two Landa sheetfed presses. The webfed digital press using the nanography technology is close to market readiness.
Should the deal go through FIMI will own 100% of the shares, but will barely scratch the surface in terms of repaying the company’s debts and creditors. Instead the offer will keep the business operational as a going concern employing hundreds directly and indirectly in Israel with the possibility for creditors of reclaiming monies owed over time.
Of the $80 million in the proposal, $22 million will be used to pay off some of the $520 million debts as well as cover the costs of the administration.
FIMI manages businesses with a companied value of $7 billion. While there is no other print technology business in the portfolio, it does own Hadera Paper, Israel’s only paper producer and its largest consumer or recycled papers.
FIMI says it “usually looks for Israeli and Israeli related companies that are mature, have significant revenue and run a profitable operation. It invests in companies with significant growth potential and tangible growth engines. FIMI seeks companies with a solid and a highly motivated management team in place”.
Once a deal is completed, FIMI’s team will engage with management to agree the strategic plan with clearly understood objectives and milestones. What that plan is will only become clear in the following months.
