New Owners for manroland Web and Sheetfed Businesses

The privately owned British engineering group Langley Holdings has emerged as the investor behind a takeover of the sheetfed printing equipment division of manroland AG, along with its production facilities, and the international marketing organization active in more than 40 countries.

“I am very pleased with the solution which will provide a long-term perspective to the Offenbach location and the sheetfed printing business,” said Werner Schneider, Insolvency Administrator. Roughly 840 employees in Offenbach will be retained according to the present staff planning. In addition, Langley takes over the international marketing organization.

“We foresee very good economic prospects for manroland sheetfed following the recent re-structuring,” said Tony Langley, sole shareholder of the Langley Group. “This is a world-class business with an excellent reputation and it’s production and research & development facilities are superb; everything one expects of the very best of German engineering.”

Langley already operates two successful technology divisions in Germany in the field of capital equipment—the Piller Group and Claudius Peters Group. All contracts have been signed, but the execution of the transaction is subject to approval of the German cartel office, which is expected within the next weeks.

Meanwhile, manroland's web offset press business has been acquired by L. Possehl & Co. The business will operate under the name “manroland web systems GmbH.” Around 1,400 workers will find employment with manroland web systems GmbH—more than half of the jobs at the Augsburg, Germany, site.