PMP to shine on at Sunshine web site

Region’s largest printer submits Times Printers takeover to ACCC but stays mum on Melbourne consolidation plans.

Backing up again for approval to the competition cop, PMP is confident of a better result this time following the knock back of its book printing merger with McPherson’s. The new takeover deal will see it cede 11 per cent shareholding to Singapore-based Times Publishing in exchange for acquiring the high-tech Times Printers web plant at Clayton.

In a news report the company points out that the deal is not anti-competitive and is a long way from establishing market control. The merger would only lift PMP’s share of the ultra-competitive $1billion plus heatset web market in Australia to 35 per cent.

It’s a far cry from the 2001 bid by IPMG to merge with PMP, targeting well over 50 per cent of the market. The emergence of new vigorous web players such as Web Star and AIW in addition to established printers such as Franklin Web and a number of smaller companies in the regions ensures there will be no hegemony of the sector.

The company is making no comment on its plans to extract synergies from the two Melbourne web plants. Both have late model presses – Clayton with MAN Roland and Sunshine, the original Diamond Press site, with Heidelberg/Goss machines.