In another transaction, seemingly unrelated, Dex One is merging with SuperMedia to form Dex Media. Both companies are descendants of the moribund yellow page industry, having both gone through bankruptcy to shed debt and each now struggling to cope with steadily declining revenues.
The connection between Google’s purchase of Frommer’s and the Dex Media deal? Both companies seek to capture a larger share of the growing ad spend from local advertisers, formerly heavily weighted to print media in the form of yellow page directories and newspaper advertising. The hegemony that print enjoyed for so long has disappeared, and local advertisers continue to move their ad spend to internet search engines, tablets and all forms of mobile apps. How many of those local ad dollars will follow the online content to Google, and others like it, furthering the decline of companies bound to delivering printed directories?
We notice that printers continue to debate the future of QR codes. Are they useful or not? Are they a threat to printers or a technique to help print endure? Frankly, I personally didn’t care or often even notice those little square codes until a recent visit to one of my favorite places, Mass MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, MA. As my wife and I toured the museum, which is housed in the massive former Arnold Print Works (yes – the museum’s many buildings were once home to a textile printer with over 3,000 employees) we entered the wing devoted to the artist Sol LeWitt. There it was on the wall – one of those funny little squares with even smaller squares in three corners and irregular dots. Expecting to be directed to a website, I pointed my iPhone at the QR code and waited. To my surprise, the QR code activated an audio track about the exhibit and the artist. As we moved to each gallery, there was a QR code at the entrance of each, which now predictably activated a download to my phone, to which we listened as we viewed the works of art. So right then and there, the debate was over for me, QR codes are convenient, inexpensive, flexible, and informative. And just in case you’re wondering, there was also a small brochure about the exhibit. Less print, but still there.
Private equity funds were busy in the printing industry again in August. MAI Holdings, affiliated with American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV, purchased the outstanding stock of one of the printing industry’s innovative equipment manufacturers, Presstek, a company that among things, sells a hybrid offset press with digital plate setters built into the press for onboard plate imaging. The fund clearly sees a bright future for printed products, with Mark Andy, the narrow-web flexo press manufacturer, already in its portfolio. Classic Stripes, the large international provider of fleet marking graphics, acquired Modagraphics of Illinois, with the backing of Navis Capital Partners. Centre Lane Partners, another fund with a printing-related company in its current portfolio, boosted its position in flexible packaging with the acquisition of Oracle Flexible Packaging in Winston-Salem, NC.
Once again, in a repeat of our results in June, we could not find any new Chapter 11 filings of print-related companies. There were several Chapter 7 liquidations, however, all of them very small companies. Notably, three of the closures were franchisee operations, one each for Fastsigns, Minuteman Press and Allegra Print & Imaging.
| 2012 August - 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 |
|||
| MAI Holdings | No Data | New York, NY | Presstek | $120.0 | Greenwich, CT | 8/23/12 | $18.7 | Stock purchase | Digital offset press mfg. | Link | |||
| Dex
One (Dex Media) |
$1,481 | Cary, NC | SuperMedia | $1,642 | New York, NY | 8/21/12 | $115.0 | Merger | Yellow page & online ads | Link | |||
| Classic Stripes | No Data | Milwaukee, WI | Modagraphics | No Data | Rolling Meadows, IL | 8/20/12 | No Data | Acquisition | Fleet, POP, & OEM graphics | Link | |||
| C2 Imaging | $200 | St. Paul, MN | Superior Imaging Group | No Data | Seattle, WA | 8/17/12 | No Data | Acquisition | Specialty graphics | Link | |||
| HBP, Inc. | No Data | Hagerstown, MD | Whitmore Print | No Data | Annapolis, MD | 8/17/12 | No Data | Asset Acquisition | Commercial printing | Link | |||
| Centre Lane Partners | No Data | New York, NY | Oracle Flexible Packaging | No Data | Winston-Salem, NC | 8/15/12 | No Data | Merger w/ LLFlex | Flexible packaging | Link | |||
| $37,905 | Mountain View, CA | John
Wiley & Sons (Travel assets) |
No Data | Hoboken, NJ | 8/14/12 | $23.0 | Divestiture | Frommer's guide books | Link | ||||
| Unisource Worldwide | No Data | Norcross, GA | Pakit Sweden | No Data | Vancouver, CN | 8/8/12 | No Data | Asset Acquisition | Molded fiber packaging | Link | |||
| 2012 August - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | ||||||||||||
Filing Party |
Date Case Filed |
Pre-Petition Revenues ($Mil ) |
Case # |
Filing Party Address |
Circuit |
Region & City |
Judge |
Attorney for Debtor |
Notes |
|||
| Chapter 11 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| No Chapter 11 Filings Found this Month | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | |||
| Chapter 7 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| LCN
Signs, LLC (DBA Fastsigns Northwest) |
8/29/12 | No Data | 12-52647 | San Antonio, TX | 5th | Western
TX San Antonio |
Leif M. Clark | Martin W. Seidler | Wide format signs | |||
| SME,
Inc. (DBA Allegra Print & Imaging) |
8/24/12 | No Data | 12-33033 | Granger, IN | 7th | Northern
IN (South Bend) |
Harry C. Dees, Jr. | Debra Voltz-Miller | Printing & copying | |||
| New Harvest Digital Business Solutions (DBA Minuteman Press) |
8/23/12 | No Data | 12-12304 | Rohnert Park, CA | 9th | Northern
CA Santa Rosa |
Alan Jaroslovsky | Myles R. Dresslove | Printing & copying | |||
| D&H Printing, Inc. | 8/20/12 | No Data | 12-35374 | Midlothian, TX | 5th | Northern
TX (Dallas) |
Harlin DeWayne Hale | David W. Elmquist | Printing & copying | |||
| Pre & Press Consultants, Inc. | 8/17/12 | No Data | 12-29123 | Anaheim, CA | 9th | Central
CA Riverside |
Meredith A. Jury | Bruce Boice | Graphics equipment dealer | |||
