This is the second add-on transaction for Impact XM, backed by AGI Partners, having in July of 2017 acquired Atlantic Exhibits which specialized in trade show exhibits, museum and corporate interior design and build services. Impact XM itself was formed when AGI Partners acquired New Jersey-based Impact Unlimited in 2015 and merged it with its existing portfolio company Aura XM.
As an integrated provider of technology-based branded environments, the Impact XM platform hits all of “GAA’s four D’s of value,” the factors that we believe drive higher enterprise values in today’s market for print-centric graphic communication companies. The company’s offerings include Design, combined with Data services, are focused on retail Display output (i.e. wide format) and are produced primarily utilizing Digital printing technologies. With all four D’s combined in one platform, Impact XM looks like a home-run in the making. (For our prior thoughts on the retail display segment see The Target Report – January 2016).
Wide Format and Display Printing
Wisconsin-based Great Northern, a custom manufacturer of temporary and semi-permanent in-store displays that promote products in retail locations, has acquired United Displaycraft. The acquired company, located in Chicago, designs and manufactures metal, wire, wood and printed permanent in-store displays. United Displaycraft also brings interactive technology and digital printing to its new owner.
West-Camp Press, located in Westerville, Ohio, announced the acquisition of grand and large format printing company CSP Graphics. The acquired company, based in Cleveland, is the official preferred display graphics partner for the Cleveland Browns and the team’s stadium. The acquisition is the second for West-Camp in seven months, having last summer acquired American Colorscans in Columbus, Ohio. Originally a color separator, back when such companies still existed, American Colorscans evolved into a large format screen printer and grand format digital printer.
AlphaGraphics Seattle, a full-service commercial printer with four retail locations and a central production hub located in a stunning location on the Puget Sound right next to the Olympic Sculpture Park and a few short blocks from the Space Needle, acquired Stella Color. The acquired company specializes in wide-format printing.
Not all is rosy in wide-format printing, however. At the lower end of the market, companies serving the high-volume low-margin segments such as food and grocery are facing pricing pressure. Run quantities are being reduced as retailers close locations and strive to compete with online sellers. Windsor Marketing Group, located in north central Connecticut, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, less than a year and half after finally completing its massive 250,000 square foot facility.
Printing Equipment
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| Chester Carlson, inventor, with the first commercial
XeroX machine, Fortune Magazine 1949
(Note the hotplate used to fuse the toner to the paper)
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Muller Martini, based in Switzerland, announced the acquisition of the perfect binding and related bookbinding machinery business of longtime rival Germany-based Kolbus. The business taken over by Muller Martini will remain in the same town as Kolbus, with all engineering talent and other employees to be located in a separate plant from their former colleagues. Kolbus will retain its case-binding and packaging equipment business, as well as its foundry operation that dates back to 1775.
Bell and Howell, a portfolio company of private equity fund Versa Capital Management, strengthened its position in the mail processing industry with the acquisition of Gunther International. The acquired company manufactures high-volume, high-page-count intelligent mail inserters with software designed to guarantee integrity of the processed mail.
| 2018 January - 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 Release |
|||
| Xitron | No Data | Ann Arbor, MI | RTI-RIP.com (Div. Global Graphics Software) |
No Data | Cambridge, UK | 1/31/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Print imaging software | Link | |||
| Wheeling Newspapers (Affil. Ogden Newspapers) |
No Data | Wheeling, WV | Charleston Gazette-Mail (Prop. The Daily Gazette Co.) |
No Data | Charleston, WV | 1/31/18 | $11.3 | 363 Sale in Ch. 11 | Local Newspaper | Link | |||
| Fujifilm Holdings | $50,610 | Tokyo, Japan | Xerox | $10,260 | Norwalk, CT | 1/31/18 | $6,100 | Acquisition | Digital printing equipment | Link | |||
| DemandBridge | No Data | Norcross, GA | Kramer-Smilko | No Data | Bel Air, MD | 1/30/18 | No Data | Acquisition (Corp Dev Assoc) |
Print distributor software | Link | |||
| Minuteman Press Encinitas | No Data | Encinitas, CA | Minuteman Press Sorrento Valley | No Data | Sorrento Valley, CA | 1/29/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Printing & copying | Link | |||
| GateHouse Media (Div. New Media Investment) |
$1,280 | Pittsford, NY | Eugene Register-Guard (Prop. RG Media Company) |
No Data | Eugene, OR | 1/29/18 | No Data | Acquisition (Dirks, Van Essen) |
Metro newspaper | Link | |||
| Muller Martini | No Data | Zofingen, Switzerland | Bookbinding business (Div. Kolbus) |
No Data | Rahden, Germany | 1/29/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Bookbinding equipment | Link | |||
| WestRock | $15,310 | Norcross, GA | KapStone Paper & Packaging | $3,230 | Northbrook, IL | 1/29/18 | $4,900 | Acquisition | Kraft & corrugated products | Link | |||
| AlphaGraphics Seattle | No Data | Seattle, WA | Stella Color | No Data | Seattle, WA | 1/29/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Wide format printing | Link | |||
| Impact XM (Port co. AGI Partners) |
No Data | Dayton, NJ | Endo Networks | No Data | Oakville, ON | 1/23/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Interactive displays | Link | |||
| Sun Chemical (Div. Dainippon Ink & Chemicals) |
$7,500 | Parsippany, NJ | C.T.LAY | No Data | Modena, Italy | 1/22/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Security overlays | Link | |||
| Drummond Press | No Data | Jacksonville, FL | Sunbelt Printing | No Data | Marietta, GA | 1/15/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Commercial printing | Link | |||
| ProAmpac (Port co. Pritzker Group) |
No Data | Cincinnati, OH | Bonita Pioneer Packaging Products | No Data | Portland, OR | 1/9/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Bags & folding cartons | Link | |||
| West-Camp Press | No Data | Westerville, OH | CSP Graphics | No Data | Cleveland, OH | 1/8/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Display graphics | Link | |||
| Midland Paper / Mngt. Team | No Data | Wheeling, IL | Midland Paper | $1,000 | Wheeling, IL | 1/5/18 | No Data | Mngt. Buyout | Paper distribution | Link | |||
| Bell and Howell (Port Co. Versa Capital Mngt.) |
No Data | Research Triangle Park, NC | Gunther International | No Data | Norwich, CT | 1/4/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Mail inserters | Link | |||
| Essence Ventures | No Data | New York, NY | Essence Magazine (Prop Time, Inc.) |
No Data | New York, NY | 1/3/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Magazine publishing | Link | |||
| H.I.G. Capital | No Data | Miami, FL | Digital Room (Port co. Insight Ventures) |
No Data | Van Nuys, CA | 1/3/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Ecommerce printing sites | Link | |||
| Great Northern | No Data | Appleton, WI | United Displaycraft | No Data | Des Plaines, IL | 1/2/18 | No Data | Acquisition | Retail display | Link | |||
| 2018 January - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | ||||||||||||
Filing Party |
Date Case Filed |
Pre-Petition Revenues ($Mil ) |
Case # |
Filing Party Address |
Circuit |
Region & City |
Judge |
Attorney for Debtor |
Notes |
|||
| Chapter 11 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| Daily Gazetter Company | 1/30/18 | No Data | 18-20028 | Charleston, WV | 4th | Southern WV Charleston |
Frank W. Volk | Joe. M. Supple | Local newspaper | |||
| Unified Graphics & Signs, LLC | 1/17/18 | No Data | 18-40196 | Fort Worth, TX | 5th | Northern TX Fort Worth |
Mark X. Mullin | H Joseph Acosta | Screen printing | |||
| Penthouse Global Media, Inc. | 1/11/18 | No Data | 18-10098 | Los Angeles, CA | 9th | Central CA Woodland Hills |
Martin R. Barash | Michael H Weiss | Magazine publisher | |||
| Windsor Marketing Group, Inc. | 1/8/18 | No Data | 18-20022 | Suffield, CT | 2nd | Connecticut Hartford |
James J. Tancredi | James Berman | Retail display | |||
| Conlon Press, Incorporated | 1/4/18 | No Data | 18-40030 | Bellingham, WA | 9th | Northern CA Oakland |
William J. Lafferty | John H. Carmichael | Art prints | |||
| The Current Newspapers, Inc. | 1/3/18 | No Data | 18-00006 | Washington, DC | 4th | District of Columbia | S. Martin Teel, Jr. | Philip McNutt | Local newspaper | |||
| Chapter 7 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| Digital Ink Inc | 1/5/18 | No Data | 18-30056 | Richmond, VA | 4th | Eastern VA Richmond |
Kevin R. Huennekens | W. Scott Dillard, II | Water-based inks | |||
| 2018 January - 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 |
|||
| Montague-Spragens Printers & Lithographers | 2/13/18 | No Data | Redding, CA | None | N/A | 2/13/18 | Commercial Printing | Link | |||
