Page 66 - Print21 July-August 2022

People in Print
the OVERflow
Opus invests $8.5m to buy Ovato’s books business
Cocker succeeds Threlfo at Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Australia has appointed Andrew Cocker to the role of
general manager, production and industrial print, succeeding Sue Threlfo, who has retired.
Cocker was previously sales manager – production and industrial print at Konica Minolta Australia. He will be responsible for continuing
to drive the production and industrial print business, helping customers in print, label, and packaging to evolve and thrive in a recovering market. 21
Top Industry experience: Andrew Cocker
Above Retired: Sue Threlfo
Opus Group is buying the Ovato book printing business for $8.5m,
and is making a further $2.5m investment in Ovato, in the form of a convertible note due to mature in 18 months’ time.
Opus will keep the book printing business – formerly known as Griffin Press – in its current Adelaide location, with the aim to keep all 80-90 staff and the equipment. Richard Celarc, CEO of Opus said, “It
is an excellent facility, and complements our book plants at McPherson's and Ligare well, they all have their specialities.
“Book manufacturing is returning to Australia, partly because of the shipping crisis, and Opus is in an excellent position to give book publishers what they want. We aim to drive local manufacturing.”
Opus Group sources the majority of its paper for books from local mills in Maryvale and Tasmania.
Opus is owned by Hong Kong based Left Field Print Group, which four months ago pumped $10m into Ovato, in the form of providing a $5.1m loan, and taking over a $4.8m chattel mortgage. Left Field now owns around 14.7 per cent of Ovato. However, Celarc told Print21, “There is no intention to take
Above Driving local manufacturing: Richard Celarc, CEO, Opus Above right: Narrowing of focus: James Hannan, CEO, Ovato
Snap West Melbourne takes Horizon SmartSlitter
Snap West Melbourne has installed a new Horizon SmartSlitter, supplied by
Currie Group, which will be used to finish jobs coming off the company’s four digital presses.
Manufactured in Japan by Horizon, the SmartSlitter is an all-in-one smart sheet processing system that will slit, gutter cut, edge trim, cross-cut, perforate, and crease, in one pass.
Peter Pawelzig, owner of Snap West Melbourne said, “As runs lengths shorten we wanted a finishing solution that was
66 Print21 JULY/AUGUST 2022
easy to operate, super-efficient, robust, and would always produce a quality job.
“As we looked around the Horizon SmartSlitter had the credentials we wanted. When
we had a virtual demo and understood that it would read codes and set up automatically, we knew it was the system we wanted.
“We have a lot of intricate jobs that we need to score
and fold, the SmartSlitter can handle them all. It can handle a wide range of materials, and very short run jobs.” 21
over Ovato. Catalogues are not our field.”
The latest $11m raised by Ovato from Opus will be used in general working capital of the company. The ACCC quickly okayed the deal, even though
it knocked back a similar deal a decade ago, when Opus tried to buy what was then PMP's book business, but Celarc said, “The world has changed, we were all confident it would go through.”
The sale of the book printing business leaves Ovato as a 100 per cent heatset print operation, with the company having divested all its other businesses over the past year, including marketing services and magazine distribution. It has also closed its New Zealand heatset business.
James Hannan, CEO at Ovato said, “This deal provides a refreshed debt
profile and a path towards equity and investment from an experienced industry player. Further narrowing of Ovato’s focus will only strengthen our ability to continue to deliver quality and efficiency to our valued clients across our packaging, sheetfed and offset printing businesses.”
What was Griffin Press is
a technologically advanced business, with a full, on- demand digital print line with an HP digital web and HP Indigo for printing the covers. It also has an advanced Kolbus case-binding line.
Opus already owns book printers Ligare and McPherson’s, as well as government and commercial printer CanPrint.
It became part of Left Field five years ago, when it delisted from the ASX. 21
Super-efficient: Peter Pawelzig with the new Horizon SmartSlitter at Snap West Melbourne