Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Private Equity Gets Banged Up by Commercial Print Deal – May 2013 M&A Activity

Private equity firms love the paper and package printing industries, but spurn further relationships with commercial printing companies. Atlas Holdings, the fund behind recycled fiber tissue manufacturer Soundview Paper Company (née Marcal) joined Blue Wolf Capital, its co-investor in Finch Paper, to acquire Twin Rivers Paper. Twin Rivers manufactures packaging, label and publishing papers in New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine, USA. In an apparently unrelated coincidence of names and products, Peak Rock Capital acquired Atlas Paper Mills, a manufacturer of tissue from recycled fibers in Miami, Florida. Private equity giant, H.I.G. Capital, acquired Caraustar Industries, a manufacturer of paperboard products and printer of folding cartons. Nekoosa Coated Products, backed by Wingate Partners, moved further away from commercial printing paper with the completion of its acquisition of IGI Corporation which manufactures specialty printing and masking substrates. These deals continue the steady flow of PE-backed deals in the paper industry, with new nuptials every month to date this year.

Sun Capital Partners announced the formation of a global packaging company, combining five of its portfolio companies into one firm to be named Exopack Holdings. The new company will have 63 plants, 8,650 employees and in excess of $2.5 billion in annual revenues, primarily focused on plastics packaging.

Wellspring Capital has apparently been dented by its foray into commercial printing. Its portfolio company, Hess Print Solutions, formed by the PE firm in 2006 with the merger of two Midwest printing companies, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filed motions include a plan for a prepackaged shotgun wedding through a 363 sale of its assets to Bang Printing of Brainerd, Minnesota.

Arandell Corporation decided to date first, announcing a “partnership” with the San Francisco area digital agency, Synapse Group. Continuing the theme we struck up in our March report, this is another indication that the innovative players in the commercial print space are embracing, purchasing, or partnering with companies that deliver commercial message content digitally to web, tablet and mobile devices. It’s a trend we expect to continue.

Sterling United met its end with a Chapter 7 filing in bankruptcy court in Buffalo, NY. The company appeared on our deal log in November 2011 when United Graphics hooked up with Sterling C. Sommer Creative Printing. At that time, it was reported that the combined companies had 40 employees and $9 million in combined annual revenues. The marriage failed.


We found only one closure in May, and a small one at that. Check out the link on our website in the Non-Bankruptcy Closures log for the story reported in one of my favorite blogs, the Nieman Journalism Lab. You may recognize your own local newspaper, wherever you call home.



2013 May - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries

Deal Party #1
(Surviving Entity)
Pre-Deal
Revenues
($Mil )


Party #1 Address


Deal Party #2
Pre-Deal
Revenues
($Mil )


Party #2 Address
Date
Deal
Public
Deal
Value
($Mil)

Deal Structure
(Intermediary)


Notes

Press
Releases
Bang Printing No Data Brainerd, MN Hess Print Solutions No Data Woodstock, IL 5/22/13 $19.2 363 Sale in Ch. 11 Commercial & book printing Link
Brown Printing No Data Waseca, MN Clear Lake Press No Data Waseca, MN 5/21/13 No Data Strategic Alliance Commercial printing Link
Piedmont Graphics No Data Greensboro, NC Color Express No Data Greensboro, NC 5/15/13 No Data Merger Commercial printing Link
Peak Rock Capital No Data Austin, TX Atlas Paper Mills No Data Miami, FL 5/21/13 No Data Acquisition Paper tissue products Link
Atlas Holdings w/
Blue Wolf Capital Partners
No Data Greenwich, CT Twin Rivers Paper No Data Edmundston, NB 5/21/13 No Data Acquisition Packaging & publishing paper Link
Electronics for Imaging (EFI) $652.1 Foster City, CA PrintLeader No Data Palm City, FL 5/8/13 No Data Acquisition MIS systems for printing Link
Exopack Holdings N/A Luxembourg Exopack No Data Spartanburg, SC  5/3/13 No Data Merger Packaging & plastics printing
(combined $2.5Bil revenue)
Link
Exopack Holdings N/A Luxembourg Britton Group No Data Winsford, UK 5/3/13 No Data Merger Packaging & plastics printing
(combined $2.5Bil revenue)
Link
Exopack Holdings N/A Luxembourg Kobusch No Data Warburg, DE 5/3/13 No Data Merger Packaging & plastics printing
(combined $2.5Bil revenue)
Link
Exopack Holdings N/A Luxembourg PACCOR No Data Zell/Mosel, DE 5/3/13 No Data Merger Packaging & plastics printing
(combined $2.5Bil revenue)
Link
Exopack Holdings N/A Luxembourg Paragon Print & Packaging No Data Lincolnshire, UK 5/3/13 No Data Merger Packaging & plastics printing
(combined $2.5Bil revenue)
Link
H.I.G. Capital No Data Miami, FL Caraustar Industries No Data Austell, GA 5/2/13 No Data Acquisition Paper products, folding cartons Link
PIP Printing & Marketing No Data Burlington, NC PIP Printing No Data High Point, NC 5/2/13 No Data Acquisition Printing & copying Link
Arandell Corporation No Data Menomonee Falls, WI Synapse Group No Data Petaluma, CA 5/1/13 No Data Strategic Alliance Digital catalogs Link
RPI No Data Seattle, WA DPI No Data Atlanta, GA 5/1/13 No Data Acquisition Web-to-Print B2B products Link


2013 May - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries



Filing Party

Date
Case
Filed
Pre-Petition
Revenues
($Mil )



Case #



Filing Party Address



Circuit



Region & City



Judge



Attorney for Debtor



Notes
Chapter 11 Filings:
Hess Print Solutions, et al.
(and 6 affiliates)
5/22/13 No Data 13-11327 Woodstock, IL 3rd Delaware
Wilmington
Kevin J. Carey Pauline K. Morgan Commercial printing
Squire Corrugated Container Corp. 5/6/13 No Data 13-19920 South Plainfield, NJ 3rd New Jersey
Trenton, NJ
Raymond T. Lyons, Jr. Daniel Stolz Corrugated boxes
Chapter 7 Filings:
Reymart Press, Inc 5/7/13 No Data 13-04835 San Diego, CA 9th Southern CA
San Diego
Christopher B. Latham Pro Se Printing & copying
Sterling United, Inc.
(Formerly United Graphics)
5/17/13 No Data 13-11351 Amherst, NY 2nd Western NY
Buffalo
Michael J. Kaplan  Pro Se Commercial printing


2013 May - Non-Bankruptcy Closures in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries



Closed Company / Facility

Date of Closure
Pre-Closure
Revenues
($Mil )



Closing Address
Related Party


Related Party
Address
Date Closure Public


Notes

Press
Releases
The Rayne Independent May-13 No Data Rayne, LA None N/A 5/30/13 Local newspaper Link