Both of the merged companies, Cerqa and Whitley, according to their websites, are now positioned as multi-channel marketing service companies, even though their roots are clearly in the commercial printing business. Cerqa’s number one offering is its logistics and “Supply Chain Management,” followed by “Marketing and Branding,” with print almost appearing to be an afterthought in its service offerings. Its new partner, The Whitley Group, aka TWG+, touts its multi-channel and interactive services, as well as its print capabilities. Of special note, TWG+ is related to The Whelan Group, aka TWGplus, a specialty marketing firm that assists colleges to identify and attract new student enrollments. These companies all have print in their DNA; they use print as the primary means of connecting their clients to their customers. However, their positioning is not about print; rather these companies appear to have achieved the much talked about transition to becoming marketing service companies.
Walsworth Publishing, a printing company that produces and prints yearbooks, acquired Ovid Bell Press, a specialty printer of publications. Notably, everything about the acquired company says, “we print publications.” There is no mixed message here; the acquired company has a clear and focused product-based strategy.
The label business continues to attract financial investors. Svoboda Capital Partners, a Chicago private equity firm with investments in several industries, all unrelated to print, found a desirable investment candidate in M.E.I. Labels, an Oklahoma flexo and screen printing company that specializes in printing labels for the food industry.
Several copy shops filed bankruptcy in December and a Texas folding box company folded itself. Distress continued to hit the advertising circular business as Mulligan Printing Corp. in Pennsylvania filed for Chapter 11 protection. In a trend brought to our recent attention, distressed commercial printing companies often delay the inevitable by filing for Chapter 11 reorganization, only to liquidate several months later. We know of two companies that have recently filed for Chapter 7 liquidation, handing the keys over to a trustee for final closure, only a few months after their ill-fated, but presumably well-intentioned, attempts at reorganizing under Chapter 11. One of these firms, National Litho (dba National Communications) in Florida, appears in our December bankruptcy log with the conversion of its Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7. National Litho also appears in our December deal log with the sale of its related party, SCP Graphics in Boca Raton, Florida to Southeastern Printing. In another “Chapter 18”, D&R Printing, aka Prestige Graphics, was reported to have filed Chapter 11 in The Target Report in November 2011, and converted to Chapter 7 liquidation in August 2012.
2012 December - 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 ($Mil) |
Deal Structure (Intermediary) |
Notes |
Press Releases |
|||
Svoboda Capital Partners | No Data | Chicago, IL | M.E.I. Labels | No Data | Catoosa, OK | 12/21/12 | No Data | Acquisition | PS labels, inserts, tags | Link | |||
Southeastern
Printing (SEP Communications) |
No Data | Stuart, FL | SCP
Graphics (Related party to National Litho) |
No Data | Boca Raton, FL | 12/19/12 | No Data | Asset purchase | Sheetfed commercial print | Link | |||
Trinity Packaging | No Data | Armonk, NY | Cello-Pack Corp. | No Data | Buffalo, NY | 12/19/12 | No Data | Acquisition | Flexo printing, bag mfg. | Link | |||
The Whitley Group | No Data | Houston, TX | Cerqa (Sub. Nationwide Argosy) |
No Data | Austin, TX | 12/18/12 | No Data | Merger | Logistics & Commercial print | Link | |||
Mark Andy | No Data | Chesterfield, MO | Print Products | No Data | Fenton, MO | 12/17/12 | No Data | Acquisition | Flexo supplies | Link | |||
River Associates | No Data | Chattanooga, TN | Rose City Printing & Packaging | No Data | Vancouver, WA | 12/13/12 | No Data |
Recapitalization
(D.A. Davidson & Co) |
Folding carton manufacturer | Link | |||
Walsworth Publishing | No Data | Marceline, MO | Ovid Bell Press | No Data | Fulton, MO | 12/6/12 | No Data | Acquisition | Short run publication printing | Link | |||
2012 December - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | ||||||||||||
Filing Party |
Date Case Filed |
Pre-Petition Revenues ($Mil ) |
Case # |
Filing Party Address |
Circuit |
Region & City |
Judge |
Attorney for Debtor |
Notes |
|||
Chapter 11 Filings: | ||||||||||||
The
Warwick Group (DBA The PrintSource Group) |
12/31/12 | No Data | 12-13978 | East Providence, RI | 1st | Rhode
Island Providence |
Diane Finkle | Vincent A. Indeglia | Printing & copying | |||
Mulligan Printing Corporation | 12/12/12 | No Data | 12-07097 | Tunkhannock, PA | 3rd | Middle
PA Wilkes-Barre |
Robert N Opel II | John H. Doran | Advertising circulars | |||
All-Brite Graphics, LLC | 12/3/12 | No Data | 12-46815 | Anoka, MN | 8th | Minnesota Minneapolis |
Kathleen H Sanberg | Joseph W. Dicker | Commercial printing | |||
Chapter 7 Filings: | ||||||||||||
Texas Packaging Co., Inc. | 12/31/12 | No Data | 12-47009 | Mineral Wells, TX | 5th | Northern
TX Fort Worth |
D. Michael Lynn | Grant Scott Goens | Set-up boxes & folding cartons | |||
J-K
Strauss, Inc. (DBA Pip Printing) |
12/6/12 | No Data | 12-14227 | Indianapolis, IN | 7th | Southern IN | Frank J. Otte | Jonathan M. Brown | Printing & copying | |||
National
Litho, LLC (Converted from Ch. 11) |
12/6/12 | No Data | 12-27566 | Miami Lakes, FL | 11th | Southern
FL Miami |
Laurel M. Isicoff | Luis Salazar | Commercial printing, web & sheetfed | |||
2012 December - 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 |
|||
SolCal Commercial Printing | 12/28/12 | No Data | Riverside, CA | Owned by Press-Enterprise Co. | Riverside, CA | 12/3/12 | Customers
tucked into San Dieguito Printing San Marcos, CA |
Link | |||
AFL Web - Voorhees Plant | 12/2/12 | No Data | Voorhees, NJ | Owned by Westbury Partners | Hauppauge, NY | 12/6/12 | Newsprint and publication printer | Link | |||