Manroland's ppi Media solvent and seeking new investors

Norbert Ohl, chief executive of ppi Media, stressed that the company was solvent and stable and said that he was already in initial talks with potential investors on the instruction of the court-appointed administrator of Manroland.

Ohl told PrintWeek: "Yes, Manroland filed for insolvency here in Germany, but ppi Media did not do so and will not do so. We are financially stable, we are profitable and we are continuing our normal business.

"A few hours before Manroland filed for insolvency we cut all cash connections with them, so we are operating completely independently to them. Since then I have received an order from the insolvency practitioner that controls Manroland to look for new investors."

Ohl added that the forced change of ownership could be "very positive" for ppi Media, as the company has been concentrating "more and more on cross media and media neutral solutions" in recent years, including online, mobile and broadcast, as well as print.

"Our friends from Manroland sometimes had a problem that we are helping customers to migrate to online business," said Ohl. "So there are some other potential investors in the market that would fit much better to our strategic direction.

"I've already had contact from several companies who have asked 'can we buy shares and can we invest in ppi?' and these are companies that we all know very well."

He added that ppi Media had not held talks with any press manufacturers and that the companies that had shown interest were more media and IT businesses that ppi knew through joint customers, through partnerships and even some competitors.

Hamburg-based ppi is well known for its historic background in automated planning and production workflows for the newspaper industry; however, the company has significantly expanded its offering in recent years to include smart editorial, ad production and ad sales support software, for online, mobile and print.

"We can offer solutions for print - for newspapers or magazines - or for online or mobile and one of the big challenges for us in recent years has been to make the market aware that we are not just about newspapers," said Ohl.

The company has been given no timeframe for the sale of Manroland's stake, but Ohl said that he expected something to happen "reasonably soon", with a deal potentially being concluded in the first quarter of 2012.

This will leave the company with relatively little time to reorganise its presence at next year's Drupa 2012, after its initial plan to have a "booth within the [Manroland] booth" went out the window last week; however, Ohl confirmed that the company would definitely be attending the trade show.

"It's clear that Manroland planned a big Drupa and it's clear that this original plan will not take place," said Ohl. "I don't know in which way the remaining Manroland organisation will have a booth or stand; we planned originally to have a small booth in [their] booth and of course now we will have to rethink.

"We will be there for sure, but don't ask me where or in what capacity - we will have to see."