HIPs casualty First Sellers Pack has been bought out of administration by financial services company Integrity.The firm, which had placed the world's largest order for Kodak presses and secured HIPs contracts worth £61m before delays and uncertainty struck the HIPs roll-out, went into administration on 1 August – the very day the troubled scheme went live.
Integrity laid out a "multimillion-pound" private equity rescue package to create new company Integrity FSP, which acquired First Sellers Pack, according to a spokesperson.
Integrity has installed its own management team, led by Nick Twyman, who will take on the mantle of chief executive.
Twyman told printweek.com that "it's a new company in terms of a legal entity" and that the deal was only "private equity, as in it's our money".
He added: "There were significant creditor positions that needed to be repaired," and that further investment would be necessary because of the high levels of capitalisation the business requires.
Integrity FSP will also retain the £61m in contracts already awarded to First Sellers Pack.
The acquisition will secure 40 jobs for existing staff and Twyman said there were no plans to cut numbers. "Redundancies? We've got growth plans, we're looking at recruitment," he said.
First Sellers Pack founder Jonathan Moore will continue with the new company for the immediate future, although his role is less certain.
"Jonathan's strengths are in sales and creativity – he will continue in that role, but he has decided to take a little break," said Twyman.
"Integrity has had an association with FSP for some time, we believe in the business model, that it's a fantastic platform for digital publishing, and we intend to support everything that Jonathan set out to achieve," he said.
Source: printweek
1 comment:
What the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard come out someone's mouth; you nicked the business, then everybody realised and you went bust within months; truth and loyalty you do not and will ever have.
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