Friday will mark a grim day in the Victorian print industry with ailing 53-year-old Melbourne commercial printer Vega Press set to close its doors for the final time, as potential purchasers of the business have failed to materialise.
The final bidding for the troubled business which racked up $6.7m worth of debts took place yesterday with two interested parties, but of these Sydney based APS (Access Print Solutions) pulled out of its attempt to gain a foothold in the Melbourne market, while Print Media Group only put in bids for the equipment and goodwill, effectively buying the customer list.
Damian Templeton, partner, KPMG told Australian Printer, “Vega will cease operations at the end of the week, while the goodwill and selected assets have been acquired by Print Media Group. We believe Print Media Group will continue to support customers of Vega.”
At a meeting with administrators yesterday with staff and managers employees were notified that the doors will shut for the final time on Friday April 5.
Staff will be made redundant during this week, and all remaining work in progress will be finalised by Friday.
Vega had 70 staff operating under the leadership of Peter Gude, son of the founder Phillip Gude. The company has been looking to ease its position for some time, it was in talks with Opus business McPherson’s last year, but these collapsed.
