The 1500-staff company made 90 redundancies in May, but a further 300 jobs are set to go at the world's fourth biggest web press manufacturer.

Redundancies will take place in phases and should be complete by July 2010.

It is understood that Wifag, which trails KBA, Manroland and Goss International in global web press sales with around 10% of the market, initially hoped that the 90 redundancies would see it through.

Speculation has emerged that the redundancies could be intended to make Wifag appear more attractive for a buyout.

It was announced in Berlin newspaper Der Bund that Wifag cannot continue in the newspaper sector alone and is looking for a "strong partner", presumably one of the "big three".

This speculation comes just a week after a rumoured merger between Manroland and Heidelberg was called off.

However, with printing industry experts estimating that the worldwide value of the printing industry has dropped from €9bn (£8.1bn) to €4bn in the last few years, it is clear that mergers and acquisitions within the manufacturers may have to take place.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THE FACT THAT THE GROUP EMPLOYS 1500 STAFF ACROSS ITS GROUP AND 600 IN ITS WEB DIVISION