BUYERS CIRCLE ACCESS COMPANIES

The administrator of the Access Print group of companies says he has had several expressions of interest for the beleaguered commercial operation, which is about to mark its 20th anniversary.

Sule Arnautovic of Salea Advisory had set a deadline of this Monday for the EOIs for the three companies, whose owners Mark Holmes and Norbert D’Souza put it into administration 12 days earlier, on 19 June.

Arnautovic says he is expecting either a sale as a going concern, or a Deed of Company Arrangement, to be the outcome for the business. He has issued NDAs to half a dozen prospective buyers.

Hermes Capital is currently funding the business, paying staff and suppliers. The Access group currently has 75 staff. The first meeting of creditors did not appoint a creditors’ committee.

The companies have sales of $18m between them, and comprise Access Print Solutions in Sydney, with Graphic Print Group and Graphic Web, both based in Adelaide. The directors cited poor economic trading conditions, a significant cost expenditure with respect to various premises leases, and outstanding statutory taxation obligations as the reasons they placed the companies into administration.

Access was established by Holmes and D’Souza 20 years ago, and bought Graphic Print in 2015. Graphic Web was Wayne Sidwell’s Cadillac Printing, which Access bought in 2016, and it is the only company apart from TMA and IVE to run a heatset web in Australia. Access and Graphic Print run B1 presses, including a stacked five-over-five Komori at Graphic.