Malaysian investment fund Navis Capital Partners is looking to expand its Australian presence after entering an agreement to buy Perth-based printing franchise Worldwide Online Printing.
As part of the proposed transaction, Worldwide’s management team, led by chief executive Mark Manderson, will take a stake in the 12-year-old business.
The vendors include Worldwide founder Clive Denholm, who left the business last year, venture capital investor Foundation Capital and Scott Print owners Dudley and Michael Scott.
In a letter to Worldwide’s 71 franchise owners, its chairman Harvey Collins said Navis’s corporate strength and expertise would help the company continue its development.
Worldwide said it was not in financial difficulty, describing itself as “a profitable business with consistently strong revenue growth”.
Its latest accounts for the year to June 2005, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commisison, reveal a more complex picture.
Its total revenue grew by 28 per cent to $15.5 million and it reported a trading profit of about $370,000.
However, after accounting for a $2.2 million write-off of goodwill and other smaller write-downs, the company incurred a net loss of $2.3 million compared with a net loss of about $740,000 in the previous year.
If the Navis sale proceeds, it would be Foundation’s third major exit in the past year, following the sale of its shares in Benchmark Debtor Finance and car rental company Europcar.
The proposed Worldwide transaction has been put together by former Foundation director Mark Dutton, who joined Navis last year.
Navis’s other Australian investments include Dome Coffees and Europcar. The value of the Worldwide transaction was not disclosed but Navis typically makes investments in the range of $10 million to $40 million.
