Digital BW, The Print

Hi Rick...wasn't me... Sinar001 mentioned Boston. 

The way I read it, 1) NO "Ilford" appears to remain in the paper biz
(maybe film and paper) 2) the Swiss factory is owned by Oji, a huge
Japanese company 3)"Harman" is the buy out group's name for what
appears to be a technical design, branding, and distribution company. 

My guess is that Oji manufactures paper for Harman, which might be
good news for everybody because Harman could also contract with 
cheaper paper manufacturing/coating operations globally (such as in
China or Eastern Europe), which would lower prices.

If the "buy out" group played a role in Oji's purchase of the Swiss
factory, it might have been as former Ilford executives facilitating
the deal as front men. Their payoff might have been the "Harman" name
and rights to technology (eg baryta) they created while still working
for the late lamented Ilford. 

Whew. That kind of thing was common in the US during the Reagan years,
but junk bonds were used back then, whereas the Japanese would have
used "carry trade" money, an entirely different game.



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Rick Colson
<colson@...> wrote:
>
> Hi John -
> 
> You wrote:
> 
> "Closed their Bingham, NY shipping & distribution, Closed their New
Jersey
> office. New US headquarters is in the Boston area. Distribution is
through a
> 3rd party now."
> 
> Their September 2006 press release said that the headquarters was in NJ.
> What makes you believe it to be in the Boston area? (I'm not saying
you're
> wrong... I just couldn't find any evidence of that. Im an industry
> consultant and if it's in Boston (my backyard) I'd like to know.)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Rick
>