SYRACUSE — The Scotsman Press, Inc., which does business as Scotsman Media Group, closed its printing operations in Syracuse and Chenango Bridge on July 3, ending about 60 years of operation in Central New York. The shutdown means the layoff of about 90 employees, the firm said in a statement released June 27. “They’ve just […]
SYRACUSE — The Scotsman Press, Inc., which does business as Scotsman Media Group, closed its printing operations in Syracuse and Chenango Bridge on July 3, ending about 60 years of operation in Central New York.
The shutdown means the layoff of about 90 employees, the firm said in a statement released June 27.
“They’ve just done a phenomenal job for the Central New York community and it is terribly unfortunate that this has to go this way,” William Veit, president of the Scotsman Media Group, says in an interview.
Veit is among the affected employees but will remain with the firm through mid-August to oversee the liquidation of assets, he says.
“I will be exiting the business,” Veit says, noting that the company will provide all 90 employees a severance package.
The Business Journal News Network interviewed Veit on June 30.
The decision will not affect The Valley News, which the company publishes in Fulton. It currently employs six people, according to Veit.
Badoud Enterprises, Inc., the Virginia–based owner of the Scotsman Press, will continue as owner of The Valley News, Veit added.
Shuttering Scotsman’s printing operations is “not a reflection of the ability or skills of the company’s leadership or employees,” Veit said in the Scotsman news release. “The result is due to unforeseen business circumstances beyond the company’s control.”
Acquisition falls through on financing issues
Veit’s attempt to acquire the business or obtain additional financing was “ultimately unsuccessful,” according to the Scotsman release.
“Back in January … I had the terms and term sheet and everything we needed from the bank and they changed their mind, they changed direction,” Veit says in the interview.
The Business Journal News Network had earlier interviewed Veit on Jan. 20 when the firm first announced he had plans to acquire the Scotsman Media Group.
Badoud Enterprises, Inc. on Dec. 17 signed an agreement to sell the company’s assets to Veit.
The owner, John Badoud, Jr., who has owned the Scotsman Press since 1989, wanted to retire, Veit added in that same interview.
Neither side disclosed financial details of the transaction, which was expected to close on March 31, Veit said during the January interview.
Veit was hoping to finance the acquisition through Des Moines, Iowa–based Principal Financial Group. Principal operates a local office at 200 Salina Meadows Parkway in Salina.
“The third party on the mortgage was … Principal Real Estate Investors and they were serving Union Fidelity Insurance and they changed their mind. They just changed the terms on me to the point that I didn’t have enough time to react,” Veit says now.
When asked why the lender changed the terms at that point, Veit would only say, “I can’t comment on that.”
When the financing issue became known, Veit worked to find another location for the Scotsman’s operations, but he ran “out of time,” he says.
When asked if the building housing Scotsman’s Syracuse headquarters had any environmental problems that may have been a factor in the lender’s denial of financing, Veit again would only say, “I can’t comment on that.”
The Syracuse headquarters of the Scotsman Press operates in a 65,000-square-foot space at 750 W. Genesee St. in a building that Badoud Enterprises owns.
The firm’s operation in Chenango Bridge, which is called Our Press, operates in a 10,000-square-foot office at 41 Kattelville Road.
Incorporated in 1954, Scotsman most recently served hundreds of publishers by providing commercial-printing services throughout Central New York.
The customers include the Business Journal News Network. The Scotsman Press prints The Central New York Business Journal, The Mohawk Valley Business Journal, and The Greater Binghamton Business Journal.
As a publisher, Scotsman produced Today’s CNY Woman, Finger Lakes Vacationer, and the $ In Your Pocket coupon book, and built its business around its former Pennysaver products.
In 2013, Scotsman closed the Pennysaver business, cutting about 60 jobs. The Pennysavers included 16 different publications that covered communities stretching from Fulton to Cortland and Geneva to Fayetteville and Manlius. The papers reached 210,000 homes.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com