Landa Digital Printing has secured the lifeline it was seeking from the Israeli courts, which have given it a stay of proceedings until the end of August, giving it six weeks to find a buyer.
Administrators have now been appointed, with Landa management running the business, which is now able to carry on trading, with creditors prevented from pursuing their claims against the company until September.
The Israeli media is reporting that founder Benny Landa was his ebullient self at the Central District Court hearing, reportedly telling Judge Hannah Kitsis that Landa Digital Printing, “could become the biggest printing company in the world”, and saying that it is set to wrest the crown of global printing from Germany and bring it to Israel, telling the judge that, “we are at the beginning of a revolution, and we are alone in this field, we have no competitors worldwide”.
Landa’s pathway to progress is far from certain, sales of its nanographic printing presses will likely almost certainly dry up until a buyer is found for the company, as no print business will want to commit to a technology whose consumables – the blankets and inks – are only available from Landa, with its uncertain future.
Most of the US$516m debt is owed to the company's shareholders, mainly the Klatten family entities. Benny Landa himself owns 36.7 per cent of the shares, and another 4.6 per cent through his Landa Labs holding company. The children of BMW heiress Susanne Klatten own 45.3 per cent, through their Altana chemicals business and Skion investment vehicle. They have reportedly made clear their intention to cease funding the business, a decision which brought on the current cashflow crisis. The Rausing family that owns Tetra Lavel (Pak) holds 10 per cent, while Landa staff own 3.1 per cent.
There are thought to be 51 nanographic presses installed, mainly in Europe and North America, with four in China. One in five of the print businesses that installed the Landa press have gone on to install a second press.
Landa Digital Printing has reportedly had US$1.3bn invested in it over the years. Its presses – the S11P commercial press and S11 folding carton press – sell for between US$3.5m-US$4m, plus installation costs of a few hundred thousand dollars.
The chassis and the paper feed of the presses are supplied by Komori, the inkjet heads are Fujifilm Dimatix Samba. The blanket (transfer belt) and inks are manufactured by Landa.
Komori sells a version of the Landa press, the Komori NS40, which differs from the Landa presses in that it has a different registration system. Sales have been slow, it has reportedly sold two into Japan and two into China. Without Landa, the ongoing operation of these presses will also be problematic. Komori launched its own inkjet press at drupa, the B2 J-throne 29.
Of the potential suitors, HP is reportedly showing the most interest, with the major Japanese technology developers also all looking at the company, although how many of them want to actually buy the business is a different matter, even at a firesale price. Landa's as yet unrealised flexible packaging presses, the W-series, will be of interest to Bobst and Koenig & Bauer.