After all, the last thing the industry needs would be the stigma of its largest player collapsing and as the failure of €365m (£320m) turnover Schlott in Germany last month proves, the idea of a company being too big to fail is a myth. So, while Polestar’s change of ownership might not be welcomed by the pension fund or its bitterest rivals, at least it’s good news for the thousands of current staff and the standing of the sector.
And it’s interesting that Polestar’s Barry Hibbert talks of the shackles of not having an equity sponsor now being removed, presumably suggesting that if the refinance had closed sooner the company would have been in a position to have been in the driving seat of UK web offset consolidation, rather than just a passenger happily enjoy the ride.
Arguably, it’s probably too late to wrest the steering wheel from Walstead now, but if Polestar’s new owners are prepared to dip their toe into the relatively uncharted waters of European consolidation, then things could get very interesting.
But let’s not get carried away, this is Polestar’s third refinance in five years, the first of which involved a mammoth £557m debt-for-equity swap, so I can’t imagine the new owners will be in a hurry to give Hibbert and his team the keys to the candy
store just yet.
Darryl Daniell, editor, PrintWeek
Polestar sale is good news for staff and for the sector
So the big news this week is that the UK's largest commercial print group has changed hands once again. While the full details of the deal will probably only trickle through over the coming weeks, on the surface, right now, this has to be seen as good news for UK Print Plc.
