Offset Printing

Print service provider PPS. Imaging Group sold

Friday 04. September 2020 - The search for an investor for the insolvent PPS. Imaging Group was successfully completed. Together with the insolvency administrators Dr. Dietmar Penzlin and Dr. Matthias Wolgast, the restructuring partners have found several investors for the German market leader in large-format digital printing. Over 200 jobs will be retained throughout the Group.

Less than two months after filing for insolvency, the purchase agreement with an investment company headed by Michael Krieger was signed on August 3. The strategic investor is taking over PPS. Imaging GmbH and Apalis GmbH with its locations in Berlin and Dresden. Krieger knows the printing industry very well, as the investor has long been a managing partner of PPS. Imaging Group for a long time. At the end of August, Krieger also reached agreement with another investor on the takeover of Niggemeyer Bildproduktion GmbH & Co. KG at the end of August. The parties to the contract agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
“The sales are to be considered a great success. On the one hand because of the speed with which we found investors. On the other hand, because the sales were successful not only in a difficult industry but also in a challenging time”, the two insolvency administrators Dr. Dietmar Penzlin and Dr. Matthias Wolgast as well as M&A expert Werner Warthorst are pleased to report.
Due to significant sales and liquidity losses in the wake of the Corona Pandemic, the management of PPS. Imaging Group had to file for insolvency proceedings for four Group companies at the beginning of June. The insolvency administrators Dr Dietmar Penzlin (Schmidt- Jortzig Petersen Penzlin) and Dr Matthias Wolgast (Münzel & Böhm) continued business operations – despite the difficult conditions caused by the corona pandemic. In addition, they initiated an investor process for which the experts from the management consultancy Restrukturierungspartner were exclusively responsible.
In recent weeks, the team led by Restructuring Partner Managing Director Werner Warthorst had approached a large number of national and international investors and held intensive talks with various interested parties. “The interest of financial and strategic investors in PPS. Imaging Group was very high. As the German market leader for large-format digital printing, the Group is an exciting investment, which can boast well-known business customers, but also appeals to end consumers via its own online brand shops Klebefieber.de and Bilderwelten.de,” reports Warthorst on the highly competitive investor process.
Particularly pleasing: the two international subsidiaries, PPS Imaging B. V., based in the Netherlands, and Vertical Vision Ltd., based in Great Britain, were also sold to two investors. All foreign locations and jobs will be retained.
The insolvency administrators are pleased with the rapid success in finding investors and thank all those involved for their trust and support. “We have decided on the sale of PPS. Imaging Group we have found very good and above all stable solutions. The sales ensure that the group’s business operations will continue and that the employees have a future. We would like to thank all those involved, especially the employees who have shown great commitment in the past weeks,” said Dr Penzlin and Dr Wolgast.