Brazil 2014 kicks off with Trucard
KBA appoints experienced restructuring expert to management board
Epson appoints Tarsus Technologies as Tier 1 distributor
T
he management board of Heidelberg has resolved
to carry out a capital increase against contribution in
kindfromauthorisedcapitalwiththeexclusionofthe
subscription rights. For such purpose, Ferd. Rüesch AG,
Switzerland, a company controlled by Ferdinand Rüesch,
will contribute its 70 percent stake in Gallus Holding AG,
Switzerland, as contribution in kind into Heidelberger
Druckmaschinen AG against the issue of new shares.
After the completion of the transaction, Heidelberg will
directly and indirectly hold 100 percent of the shares in
Gallus Holding AG. Gallus is a leading supplier in the
packaging industry for labels and folding boxes. In 2013,
the Group generated a turnover of CHF 188 million with
approximately 500 employees.
The planned complete takeover of Gallus Holding
AG accelerates the development and use of Heidelberg’s
digital products in the growing labels sector. In fall this
year, Heidelberg and Gallus will be unveiling a new digi-
tal printing system for the label market that incorporates
Fujifilm technology. By acquiring approximately 9 percent
of Heidelberg shares in consideration for theGallus stake,
Ferdinand Rüesch will also become a new strategic
anchor investor of the company. At the same time, Hei-
delberg is strengthening its capital structure, which will
support the company’s strategic reorientation.
‘We are very proud to have won Ferdinand Rüesch
as anchor investor with long-standing sector knowledge,’
said Heidelberg CEOGerold Linzbach. ‘The full acquisition
of Gallus will further enhance the cooperation of the two
companies. Together, wewill continue to foster the devel-
opmentinthegrowingmarketfordigitallabelproduction.’
Heidelberg undertakes, in consideration for the hold-
ing in Gallus Holding AG that will be contributed by Ferd.
Rüesch AG, to issue up to 23 000 000 new shares and
make a cash payment in the amount of a single-digit EUR
million sum. The amount of the consideration depends,
inter alia, on the further performance of the price of the
Heidelberg share until the capital increase is notified.
The face value of the new shares will amount to at least
EUR 2.70 per new share of the company. The registration
of the capital increase against contribution in kind is, sub-
ject to approval by the antitrust authorities, expected to
take place in July this year. Ferd. Rüesch AG undertakes
to hold the acquired shares until 31 July 2015.
Through the capital increase against contribution in
kind fromauthorised capital, the share capital of the com-
pany will be increased by up to E58.880m to E659.04m
with partial utilisation of the authorised capital.
‘Both, the enhanced capital structure and the opera-
tive synergies will create the room required to further en-
hance the product and service range of both companies,’
said Dirk Kaliebe, CFO at Heidelberg. ‘This is the starting
signal for the profit focused alignment of our portfolio and
the steps required in this context.’
E
pson has expanded its distribution base with the ap-
pointment of Tarsus Technologies as its latest Tier 1
broad-based distributor of Epson printers, scanners,
multi-function devices and projectors.
‘Tarsus will certainly strengthen our channel develop-
ment plans in South Africa,’ said Kelvin Reynolds, general
manager for Epson in South Africa. ‘Tarsus already dis-
tributes Epson products in Zambia, Namibia and Mozam-
bique and we look forward to working with its team to
grow the Epson brand locally.’
Tarsus distributes IT hardware brands in Southern
African and with its nearly 30 years of operation, is the
most established business of this nature in South Africa.
‘Epson is recognised as a household brand in the
printer business,’ said Gary Pickford, sales director at
Tarsus. ‘We also see it offering premier products in the
scanner, projector and POS printer markets, all products
that our reseller channel is very comfortable with. In ad-
dition, Tarsus also has a solid reputation of servicing the
corporate and government sectors with relevant products
for their business through our channel, and Epson prod-
ucts are highly relevant for these sectors.
‘In addition, Tarsus is uniquely positioned to meet
the channel’s needs for credit funding, stock availability
and efficient logistics to ensure that resellers are able
to deliver the best possible service, support and overall
solutions to their end user customer base, at the lowest
possible cost. The Epson products that we have added to
our stable will be serviced in the same manner,’ he said.
Operating from its new headquarters in Waterfall
Commercial District in Johannesburg, Tarsus is well es-
tablished as a Pan African distributor with branches in
Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Bloemfon-
tein, Polokwane, Klerksdorp, Maputo, Windhoek, Lusaka,
Gaborone and Ebène inMauritius.
‘Epson will add impetus to this new relationship with
the launch of several new printer products to the South
African market in the coming months including a new
range of Epson Ink Tank System (ITS) printers, and educa-
tion and corporate projectors,’ added Reynolds.
‘Advanced Channel Technologies (A.C.T), an Epson
consumables distributor for many years, merged with
Tarsus Technologies inMarch this year. Appointing Tarsus
was a natural step for us and I am sure that it will make a
significant difference to our channel with its outstanding
distribution track record and Southern African footprint,’
said Reynolds. ‘I’m also confident that Epson will have an
equally positive effect on Tarsus’s business in the years
to come. We’re very excited to have Tarsus as our new-
est distributor in and I’d like to welcome it to the Epson
family.’
Vol 4 Issue 3 • THE GAPP TIMES
A
sBrazilpreparedtohosttheworld’sbiggestfootball
tournament, employee-owned papermaker Tullis
Russell once again produced its hotly-anticipated
tournament wall chart for ‘football fans’ at printers, de-
signers and paper specifiers around the globe.
The charts were produced using Tullis Russell’s Tru-
card range of SBS coated and uncoated cartonboard and
have been distributed in the run up to the competition by
merchant stockists of the range throughout the world.
The strikingly-designed, Brazilian-themed wall charts
were designed by Lewis Design in Edinburgh and printed
at MLG in Glasgow. To demonstrate the breadth and ver-
satility of the Trucard range, the packs were produced us-
ing a variety of weights and product finishes including the
recently introduced Trucard Bright White shade option,
which is used for the main competition chart in the pack.
Printed in four-colour process throughout, each wall
chartsetcomprisesofaB1sizedcompetitionchart,which
is embossed, spot UV varnished and die-cut – two gloss
laminated team sheets featuring kiss-cut pop-out flags
which you use to track your team through the different
stages of the competition – and a robust outer sleeve
printed on Trucard 0 matt uncoated.
Malcolm Sinclair, export sales director at Tullis Rus-
sell commenting on this year’s wall charts said, ‘The
football wall charts are always extremely popular with
our customers and their clients – but they also give us
the opportunity to showcase the great results Trucard
can achieve. This year’s charts are no exception, we’re
delighted with the result and response from customers.’
Trucard is distributed in South Africa exclusively by
Papersmith & Son. Papersmith will be running a competi-
tion through its Facebook and Twitter pageswhere clients
can ‘share’ or ‘retweet’ their post about the wall charts,
and stand a chance of winning their very own wall chart
for their offices.
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The GAPP
magazine
www.
thegapp
.co.za
