Jochen Meissner

Shanghai Electric (Group) Corp. (SEC) and the shareholders of Goss International Corp., including majority shareholder MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners, have reached an agreement for the utility and equipment manufacturing conglomerate to become the second largest shareholder of the printing equipment supplier by acquiring newly issued shares of Goss International preferred stock. This transaction is currently under governmental review for final approval and is subject to other customary conditions to closing.

Goss International announces that after 44 years of service, its president Richard (Dick) J. Sutis will retire on July 31, 2009. Sutis will retain his positions as vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Shanghai Goss Graphic Systems, a joint-venture of Goss International and Shanghai Electric Group in China, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Goss Graphics Systems Japan Corporation.

BOLINGBROOK, IL—Goss International has reduced its U.S. workforce by 170, with the cuts taking place in facilities located in New Hampshire, Texas and Illinois. The company was also considering other options including short-term furloughs during the summer for employees in the United States. The staff reduction and additional cost-saving measures are responses to economic conditions, particularly a decline in advertising expenditures, which have adversely impacted the demand for new web printing and print finishing equipment worldwide, according to Goss International CEO Jochen Meissner.

Goss International reduced its work force in the United States on Friday, May 8. Approximately 170 employees at facilities in New Hampshire, Illinois and Texas were impacted. The company also announced that it was considering other options including short-term furloughs during the summer for employees in the United States.

MIAMI—Phil Burke, 49, Goss International’s vice president of sales for Latin America, was found dead in Biscayne Bay here April 7. Burke's body and that of his 8-year-old daughter, Tara Ann, were pulled from the waters a day after they went on a father/daughter boating trip.

Goss International released the following statement from Jochen Meissner, CEO: With great sadness, I regret to inform you that Phil Burke, our vice president of sales for Latin America, and his eight-year-old daughter, Tara Ann passed away on Sunday following a boating accident near their home in Florida.