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The meeting was over almost before it began. Angry and upset, Marco Corvi headed to his car to drive home. The drive from Maisprach to home wasn't long. In the car, he banged his hands to the steering wheel and shouted to himself, why? One month and 12 days as Chairman - and things didn't really develop as planned. At this point, Corvi was already well underway building a new business - based on the ruins of his previous ventures. 

Schwarz & Riethmüller was just another family-run company with no vision, drive, and a perfect catch for his new venture.

By Editor-in-Chief Morten B. Reitoft

Marco Corvi is what some will refer to as a serial entrepreneur. Alone in Switzerland, 27 companies are associated with his name, and surprisingly enough, all seems relatively unsuccessful - which is essential to remember. 

According to Corvi, his companies are within the filling-machine industry. Though Marco Corvi can be related to the industry back to one of his first companies Corvi FillTec GmbH in 1998, it's extremely difficult to find information about any of the products he and his companies supposedly have developed, produced, and delivered. Most companies will market their products and services, and maybe, more importantly, brag about their customers.

The only reference to customers we have found is from an interview with Christopher Gilb from Luzerner Zeitung, and to be honest - bragging about customers that are hard to check is sometimes a bit too easy. However, we tried, and as expected, no one would confirm any relation with Benpac.

Benpac, Enova, or Enovatec aren't names you easily find on the Internet, which questions not only the company, Marco Corvi but even more, whether any products at all exist. 

In May 2014, Corvi established yet another company - this time called Enovatec Steuerungsbau AG. 

Today, we know this company as Benpac Holding AG. Though the company isn't a holding company at all, this is the company that is the public face of the Benpac group.

In numerous articles from various magazines and newspapers, journalists refer to the fact that the group had no website despite its own merits. This changed a few weeks ago when www.benpac.com went public. It was quite interesting since, instead of enlightening the critical journalist, it woke up the sleeping tiger - at least in me!

Several American and Canadian companies were added to the alleged acquisitions list - this we will return to in an article following this. 

However, we need to talk about a few interesting things before. First of all, Gallus and the narrow web division acquired from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen was nicely placed on the map as part of the Benpac Group. As Heidelberg is a public company, they have to follow sudden rules. When directly asked, Head of Corporate Communication, Thomas Fichtl referred to this previously announced statement. 

"As announced in July, we are currently in the process of selling the Gallus Group to the Swiss packaging group benpac holding ag, Stans, as part of the decision to focus on the core business of sheetfed printing. The board reservations no longer apply. As announced, the sale is to take effect in the calendar year 2020. With the sale of our narrow web printing and flexographic printing activities, we are continuing to focus on innovative solutions along the entire value chain for printed sheets. At the same time, we will retain our in-house digital expertise and will also further expand the digitization of conventional presses through our cooperation with benpac on the Gallus Labelfire. At the same time, our sheetfed offset presses will remain a key supplier in the growing label market."

The statement doesn't confirm whether the deal has been concluded or not, but as Benpac uses the Ferd. Reusch and Gallus name as part of their corporate communication/branding, you would assume that it's a done deal, right? However, if you look at the Swiss Company register, there hasn't been ANY changes in the management, board, public ownership, etc. This MUST lead to the conclusion that the deal hasn't been concluded yet. 

If the deal had been concluded, Marco Corvi would undoubtedly be part of either the board or the operation - but he isn't.

The recently published website also has a few disturbing things. When you announce, i.e., Benpac Bratislava, why should you then refer to Stans? There are several examples of how Benpac tries to artificially size up the company. 

In my previous article, I wrote that one of the essential and recurring questions is the number of employees.
In an interview with a newspaper from 2019, Marco Corvi explains that Benpac and his subsidiaries have fewer than 300 employees. That number CAN be questioned, but let's put that aside for a moment. In 2020 Marco Corvi claims to employ more than 3,000 employees. Think about that for a moment. That means that despite COVID-19 and a competitive market - he should have grown the company ten times- in just one year? The time, the cost, the management of this would require an organization. If you again look at the recently published website www. benpac.com, you can see that IT, HR, Marketing & Distribution should be managed by Anton Paul Corvi - and with all due respect. Anton Paul Corvi is like his brother, uncle, father, cousin, or whoever he is - NOT present on the Internet. I have to date not met a marketing manager without a profile on LinkedIn - so, of course, and unfortunately, this continues to underscore that Benpac could be a giant hoax.

Marco Corvi has also said that the Gallus deal is a cash-deal. If Marco Corvi can develop a 750 million CHF business (according to himself) from his last liquidation/bankruptcy in 2016 till 2020, he is nothing but impressive. If he at the same time can deliver a profit that can pay Heidelberger Druckmaschinen 120 million Euros in cash, he is a God that should be leading larger companies or even countries. 

In the article that follows this, you will see that NONE of the companies acquired can support either the claimed revenue or the number of employees. 

As written in my previous article about Benpac, the company is surprisingly non-transparent. Marco Corvi looks like a person with endless liquidations and consistent claims of unpaid liabilities in his trail.
When he claims in Luzerner Zeitung that there is a reason for not paying his bills, he is right. He simply doesn't have the money. The fact that large and small companies apparently fall for the idea of creating a global conglomerate is quite interesting. Now is time to prove that this is not a hoax. In public records from the companies Marco Corvi was involved with, the liquidator had to 'give up' since the booked assets were not there. 

When Marco Corvi in interviews, i.e., claim that benpac grenacher ag continues their operation, you can look at the photo from Google Maps of today's date and speculate what they possibly can produce from there?

Another example is the addresses where many of Marco Corvi's companies have been located during the years, see Webergasse 24a, 9000 St. Gallen.

Of course, we don't know how it was in 2016, but now the headquarter of the now owner of Gallus with 3,000 employees resided in a small building today a laundry. Judge for yourself - and why should you even care about this story? The most important reason is that buying and selling is a question about trust and faith. If Marco Corvi and Benpac deliver what they have promised, you can judge for yourself whether the history and how they operate at all is essential. We bring you the story; judge for yourself. 

We have several statements from people - who unfortunately won't stand forward - that tell stores about unpaid invoices, lawsuits, late or not paid salaries, unfulfilled leasing contracts, and so forth. In the next article, we will look into what products Benpac may deliver and speculate about why Marco Corvi and Benpac is playing after other rules than most. 

Stay Tuned.

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Past articles in this series: 

#3 Benpac, Gallus & Marco Corvi

#2 Heidelberg's Need for Money

#1 The Good Old Times

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