Manroland Owners Considering Options For Company - MAN SE Spokesman
November 16 2011 - 1:30PM
Dow Jones News
Printing machine maker Manroland AG's owners Allianz SE (ALV.XE)
and MAN SE (MAN.XE) are exploring options for Manroland with a view
to finding a sustainable solution for the company, a MAN spokesman
said Wednesday.
The comment comes after a report to be published Thursday in
Germany's Handelsblatt cited industry sources as saying the company
is to get a major new shareholder. The report says Allianz Capital
Partners and MAN have been seeking to dispose of their stakes in
Manroland for some time amid a downturn in the printing machine
industry.
Manroland could be taken over by a large European engineering
company, which isn't yet active in the printing machine business,
the industry sources are cited as saying.
The details of a complete takeover or the entry of a strategic
investor will be clarified in the coming weeks, Handelsblatt
reports, citing unnamed sources.
A planned initial public offering had to be cancelled at short
notice and a merger with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HDD.XE)
also recently collapsed, Handelsblatt reports, adding, however,
that a shakeout is inevitable in the printing machine industry due
to overcapacity and drastically falling orders since October.
Both MAN and Allianz Capital Partners declined to comment on the
report Wednesday.
Newspaper website: http://www.handelsblatt.com
-Frankfurt Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 49-69-29725-500