INKISH.NEWS -

Marco Corvi and Benpac have been in the news since July 2020. Many have followed the story with interest with stories about acquisitions, accusations, speculations, and more. On INKISH.NEWS more than 30,000 people have read our stories. It started with Benpac announcing a takeover of Gallus and Heidelberger Narrow web - which we all know failed big time. Unfortunately, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen lost the deal and will most likely never get the 50 million Euros they have sued Corvi to pay in compensation and damages. Still, on a more personal level, partners, lawyers, previous owners, employees, and suppliers can expect a loss on top of the many promises.

Nobody seems to have gained anything from this sad story, and with many liquidations of benpac companies in Switzerland, you would believe the story would end here, but no. January 6th, we got a copy of an email, electronically signed by Marco Corvi and benpac holding A.G. – though taken under liquidation on November 25th, 2021.

Marco Corvi's associate in Canada and board member in many of the benpac companies in Switzerland, Mike Urquhart, no longer holds any function at Amsler (benpacamsler.com), the mail claims. Employees are asked not to contact Urquhart - and he continues in the same mail: "We will probably not continue Amsler. Therefore, I ask you to reorient yourself regarding a job."

Mike Urquhart wrote in a short mail to INKISH that he has never been employed with Amsler but only worked as a consultant.

Besides the story itself, the irony is that companies like Baker McKinsey, GCA, DLA Piper, Heidelberg, and others didn't see what now looks like a scam or maybe just limited skills running a business? Numerous media, however, revealed shortly after the M&A announcement the unbelievable numbers of the, at the time, unknown company, Benpac.

A company with 3,650 employees and revenue in 2019 of 750,000,000 CHF - unbelievable, and why didn't anybody question or check the company's size? And in case they did, why didn't it turn on any alarms? — now leading to losses, sad stories for employees, and people, who have no power to pursue lost bonuses, pensions, and unpaid salaries?

While some of Marco Corvi's companies in Switzerland are under liquidation, Corvi has been busy in Canada. According to numerous sources - and of course, a statement on www.benpac.com, Amsler Equipment moved to another Canadian company Niigon - now bankrupt. Some customers who paid deposits to Corvi months ahead got upset with the empty promises. Some eventually went to Niigon to take the unfinished machines and complete them themselves. After Benpac was kicked out of the Stans headquarter, we were told that customers were invited to Switzerland to see the equipment in production to re-insure the customers about the deliveries. How that ended is still an open question. Luzerner Zeitung has written the story about how employees were escorted out of the building by the police as the rent hadn't been paid for months!

As you can see from the email, the existence of Amsler is in jeopardy. - So what's left of the 'empire,' and what has happened to the 3,650 employees?

Well, I reached out to some employees to offer my sympathy, and strangely enough, one wrote back that she believed in Corvi and said, like Corvi, that all the misery is because of the media. To me, this almost sounds like the Stockholm Syndrome. Pure speculations, of course, but to claim that the media is responsible for all the bad things that origins from mainly one person - well, it beats me!

In Florida, the company A.T.M. still operates, but according to whistleblowers working there, the situation is like the other Benpac companies. Empty promises, no actions, pending payments to the previous owners, and from at least two mails, unhappy employees.

Sad story. Let's hope it will soon come to an end - or resolve in better headlines, happy employees, and satisfied customers. I still don't understand why benpac is pursuing a business that apparently will not exist!

Jan 09, 2022

Author: Morten B. Reitoft