The t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted on the Blue Star buy-out of Sydney’s iconic Lilyfield business from German STI Group. The official handover is now set for June 30, as Blue Star gets serious about boosting its wide format and point-of-purchase (POP) offering with further investment in new equipment and process tipped for the coming months.
The deal that was first announced back in April has been finalised, which will see the Lilyfield business and all POP-related employees continue to work out of its current Padstow site for the foreseeable future. Blue Star confirms speculation that it will indeed consolidate the company’s commercial print work to the Blue Star Silverwater site, but has yet to reveal the full impact on staff in overlap areas.
Matt Aitken (pictured), Blue Star group general manager print and DM, tells Print21 that he is excited about the move. STI Lilyfield currently provide end-to-end commercial printing and point-of-sale (POS) solutions, and Aitken is focussed on identifying synergies and adding new services for customers across the board.
“Blue Star is already a very diverse business which gives us a strong value proposition for STI customers. Conversely, bringing on STI Lilyfield offers strong and unique capabilities to the Blue Star customer base,” he says.
“The reaction from both customer groups over the past couple of months has been very positive and shows how highly regarded the STI business is in Australia."
The deal has Blue Star and STI Group enter into a global POP partnership to ensure the business continues to deliver leading innovative solutions to customers. According to Dr Tom Giessler, STI Group managing director, the two companies are well-matched in the partnership.
“We specialise in driving our customers’ success by developing highly creative POP and competitive supply chain solutions. This partnership helps to further our aim of delivering a truly seamless service, no matter where in the world our customers and their needs are based,” said Giessler.
Current STI Lilyfield managing director, Stephen De Lorenzo, also carries on with the business at its Padstow site. De Lorenzo replaced former managing director Graham Trickey in June 2013, and has been a steady hand in guiding the business through this expanding sector.
Founded in 1979 by Reg Hammond, the iconic Lilyfield business was bought in August 2009 by STI Group, which operates nine manufacturing site worldwide and reported a $450 million group turnover in 2013.
Blue Star continues to invest in growth areas, just last week announcing its entering a heads of agreement to purchase mailhouse business iGroup. Meanwhile, negotiations for a 50/50 merger with IPMG publicly fell through just a few days ago, but despite the set-back Blue Star remains on the warpath for expansion.