Allianz, MAN to Pay Off All manroland Debt

By: E&P Staff German pressmaker manroland's owners, the Allianz Capital Partners private-equity subsidiary of the Allianz Group insurance company and Munich-based engineering and manufacturing conglomerate MAN AG (manroland's former parent company) will pay all remaining manroland debt.

First reported by Reuters last week, Friday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted manroland Chief Executive Gerd Finkbeiner saying that his company ended 2008 without net debt, and that "our owners will replace the remaining liabilities entirely with equity."

Allianz acquired 65% of manroland, with MAN owning the balance, in a summer 2006 deal that anticipated taking the company public in a few years. It left manroland with 380 million euros of debt, according to Reuters.

Manroland reportedly was in merger negotiations with German printing-equipment giant Heidelberger until mid-October (E&P Online, Oct. 13). It also was rumored to be in talks with Shanghai Electric, which became the second largest shareholder in Goss International Corp. after MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners. In his FAZ interview, Finkbeiner denied that manroland had spoken to Shanghai Electric.