AGFA OFFSET SOLUTION SALE COMPLETES

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Agfa’s offset business is under new ownership as from today, with a new brand to be launched tomorrow, but it is business as usual for ANZ customers.

No change to supply: Mark Brindley, CEO, Agfa Oceania
No change to sales, service or supply: Mark Brindley, ANZ CEO of the new offset solutions company

The Offset Solutions division comprises offset plates, graphic film, software, chemicals, equipment including CTP, and services. It is now owned by private equity fund Aurelius Group, which has paid €92m for what was Agfa’s biggest division.

Local managing director Mark Brindley said, “There is no change in supply, sales or service for our local customers. Our ABN and ACN remain the same. The only difference will be the new brand. It will be a different name on the box, but the product inside, and the support and service that our customers receive, will be exactly the same.” The new brand is due to be revealed tomorrow afternoon.

In the offset business, plates are the major product, and according to Brindley there is a “massive focus” on the software. He said, “Senior management within the division have been working with Aurelius, who have 100 per cent backed the software strategy, the roadmap and the R+D investment.”

The new offset business under Aurelius will have Frederick Dehing as head of global sales and service. Dehing is well known to the ANZ print community, having served as the popular managing director of the business here for three years from 2007. Brindley said, “Having worked with Frederick for three years, I know what a smart guy he is. He understands the needs of print businesses.”

Brindley, who has run Agfa's offset, wide format and radiology businesses here since Dehing returned to Europe in 2010, will remain as managing director of the rebranded company.

Agfa keeps its graphics business which includes inkjet printing, sign and display inks, industrial applications and synthetic papers within its current business, it was not part of the Aurelius deal..

Its inkjet business includes the Jeti, Anapurna and Oberon roll-to-roll, flatbed and hybrid wide format print systems, the Avinci dye sub printer, and the Inca high volume flatbeds it bought for €48m a year ago. In ANZ that business will initially be within the new Aurelius-owned brand, and will be headed by sales manager Philip Burns, but within 18 months will become a separate entity.

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