Vic label printer acquired by multinational

Family-owned Melbourne company, Burgess Printing and Packaging has been acquired by a private Danish packaging group, Schur International for an undisclosed sum.

Burgess employs a workforce of 40 people and generates annual revenue of $18m. Burgess Australia manager Stuart Lay confirms all staff have been kept on following the acquisition.

“The reality is that all Australia staff are keeping their jobs, and another business is investing in Australia and investing in the industry,” Lay says.

“At the end of day there was no strategic reason to sell Burgess, Schur was looking for an Australian base, they approached us and we decided to sell.

Lay adds, “The business continues to grow, however the Australian market continues to devalue itself, we have an integral product that is being devalued.”

The business was taken over by the Burgess family in 1972 and became part of the Burgess Group.

It currently specialises in label printing, glass and flexible packaging for the food industry.

However the history of the company can be traced back to Austria in 1868 when it was founded by the Ulrich family and provided engraved seals for the Austrian Royal Family and Government.

Lay says the company will continue to be known as Burgess Printing and Packaging for marketing purposes, but its legal entity will be called Schur Star Systems Australia.

Its plant at Thomastown will continue under the current owners and will be leased out by Schur.

Schur director, Hans Schur says, “As part of our strategy to develop the Schur Star concept worldwide, we are pleased to have acquired Burgess Printing and Packaging.

“We look forward to continuing the close working relationship with the existing customers and to developing the Burgess business and market further.”

Schur is a 170-year-old company with an international network of 15 companies offering folding boxes, flexible packaging, packaging machines and systems.

The acquisition is expected to extend Schur’s presence in the Australian and New Zealand packaging market.

Source: Australian Printer