Germany Goes Out of Print as manroland Files for Insolvency

Germany, which invented the printing industry more than 500 years ago and dominates the market to this day, has lost its talent for making money from the presses. In the weeks before manroland’s insolvency filing, the company negotiated with Switzerland’s Capvis Equity Partners AG, before talks broke down amid “differing ideas” about the company’s future, Capvis Partner Daniel Flaig said yesterday.

“All solutions failed because of a lack of financial support,” deputy chairman of the supervisory board Juergen Kerner said.

manroland’s collapse highlights the threat to manufacturers as banks curtail financing of machinery that sells mainly to small- and mid-sized customers.