THE Polstar Group, the UK’s largest independent printing company and content delivery specialist, has gone into administration.
A statement on the company’s website states that the directors of Polestar Print Holdings Ltd (PPHL) note the move “with regret”.
Polestar produces more than 50 million products a week for newspaper supplements, magazines, retail and journals and reference publications.
Joint administrators Toby Underwood, Matthew Callaghan and David Baxendale were called in on March 24. Polestar states that:
• the priority of the appointed administrators is to continue operations of those entities and to pay the staff as normal while the administrators assess the current position;
• the Administrators have started the process of seeking buyers for those entities with the aim of ensuring the continuity of service for customers and of preserving the jobs of the employees.
• the operations of Polestar Applied Solutions Ltd and The River Group Ltd – the respective best in class transactional/digital and content marketing providers – remain completely unaffected by these events and continue to trade and offer high quality services. PPHL is also unaffected by the events of today and continues to remain the holding company for these entities.
The statement concludes: “The PPHL Directors intend to fully support the efforts of the Administrators and assist wherever possible to help them in achieving their stated objectives.”
Shortly after the appointment of administrators, the business and certain of the group’s assets were acquired by Polestar UK Print Ltd, a new UK-registered company set up with support from Proventus Capital Partners, which is the group’s major shareholder.
The acquisition will ensure the continuity of service for customers and preserve around 2,000 jobs including around 1,500 employees, 150 outsourced staff and 350 agency contractors.
