Manroland Owners Considering Options For Company - MAN SE Spokesman

Printing machine maker Manroland AG's owners Allianz SE (ALV.XE) and MAN SE (MAN.XE) are exploring options for Manroland with a view to finding a sustainable solution for the company, a MAN spokesman said Wednesday.

The comment comes after a report to be published Thursday in Germany's Handelsblatt cited industry sources as saying the company is to get a major new shareholder. The report says Allianz Capital Partners and MAN have been seeking to dispose of their stakes in Manroland for some time amid a downturn in the printing machine industry.

Manroland could be taken over by a large European engineering company, which isn't yet active in the printing machine business, the industry sources are cited as saying.

The details of a complete takeover or the entry of a strategic investor will be clarified in the coming weeks, Handelsblatt reports, citing unnamed sources.

A planned initial public offering had to be cancelled at short notice and a merger with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HDD.XE) also recently collapsed, Handelsblatt reports, adding, however, that a shakeout is inevitable in the printing machine industry due to overcapacity and drastically falling orders since October.

Both MAN and Allianz Capital Partners declined to comment on the report Wednesday.

Newspaper website: http://www.handelsblatt.com

-Frankfurt Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 49-69-29725-500