Commercial printers are now fully engaged in the wide format business, exerting pressure on companies that specialized in printing only wide and grand format materials. Pazazz, a printing company in Montreal, Quebec, (and producer of the infamous and viral “Printing’s Alive” videos), acquired Contact Image, also of Montreal. Another commercial printing company, K&M Printing of Schaumberg, Illinois, acquired National GraphX and Imaging. In the past, wide format services could be a real and important differentiator for a commercial printer; wide format now appears to be a “must have” for many in the commercial sector.
In a double-header listing this month, SCICOM Data Services is included on our bankruptcy log and our deal log. The company filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 proceeding with the bankruptcy court, accompanied by a simultaneous motion to sell itself to Venture Solutions. Venture Solutions, a division of privately held Taylor Corporation, provides transactional communications, by definition relying on variable data printing and e-delivery, to meet the compliance and privacy requirements of insurance, financial, healthcare, utility and telecommunication companies. While we have seen signs of contraction in the “transpromo” sector, as more and more consumers opt for e-delivery of their statements, the underlying need to manage the data and deliver secure documents seems assured; and at least a portion of those documents will be printed. Venture Solutions appears to have made a solid bet that this is a game worth playing.
Could it be that Cenveo is buying its own worst enemy? The company announced late in the month that it has entered an agreement to purchase substantially all of the operating assets of National Envelope which has been operating under the protection of the bankruptcy court. Just three weeks before, Cenveo, in its report of second quarter results, blamed falling revenues on “lower average selling price from our direct envelopes due to our initiatives to gain market share as well as pricing pressures primarily from a competitor now in bankruptcy protection.” The data-intensive trend that supports Venture Solutions’ deeper dive into transpromo processing and printing, combined with the constant pressure on consumers to opt-in for e-delivery of their statements, works against the envelope printing business. Every click that a consumer makes to “save a tree” means one less envelope printed every month, year in and year out.
As we expected, the print management business continues to experience pressure. In a deal that effectively transforms the former print broker, Workflow One, into a real live printing company, the company was acquired by Standard Register in deal that was primarily an assumption of Workflow One’s long term debt. This is the third month in a row that deals have been announced in the print management business, changing the landscape and growth curve in what has been a very disruptive model for commercial printers. I suspect that there are many commercial printers that are not unhappy to see the declining fortunes of the print management firms and that eagerly look forward to the potential to restore their direct relationships with their corporate clients; in effect disintermediating the intermediators.
RR Donnelley continued its downsizing with the closing of the former Von Hoffman book printing facility in Jefferson City, Missouri. The plant reportedly was at one time a world class high volume book manufacturer, covered 700,000 square feet, and still employed 500 as of the closing announcement. Jefferson City is the fifth US printing plant closed by RR Donnelley this year.
| 2013 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 |
|||
| Shutterfly | $700.5 | Redwood City, CA | R&R Images | No Data | Phoenix, AZ | 8/29/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Stationary products | Link | |||
| AlphaGraphics of New Bern | No Data | New Bern, NC | Village Graphics | No Data | Grantsboro, NC | 8/22/13 | No Data | Merger | Printing & copying | Link | |||
| Cenveo | $1,760 | Stamford, CT | National Envelope | $300.0 | Frisco, TX | 8/21/13 | $25.0 | 363 Sale in Ch. 11 | Envelope manufacturer | Link | |||
| Pazazz | No Data | Montreal, QC | Contact Image | No Data | Montreal, QC | 8/16/13 | No Data | Acquisition (Macquarie Capital) |
Wide format printing | Link | |||
| Think Patented | No Data | Miamisburg, OH | Miller Printing | No Data | Springfield, OH | 8/8/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Commercial printing | Link | |||
| All State Legal | No Data | Cranford, NJ | Vizability | No Data | New York, NY | 8/7/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Stationary products | Link | |||
| K&M Printing | No Data | Schaumburg, IL | National GraphX and Imaging | $1.5 | Franklin Park, IL | 8/7/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Wide format printing | Link | |||
| Venture
Solutions (Sub. of Taylor Corp.) |
No Data | Arden Hills, MN | SCICOM Data Services | No Data | Minnetonka, MN | 8/6/13 | No Data | 363 Sale in Ch. 11 | Transactional communications | Link | |||
| Safeguard | No Data | Dallas, TX | Innovative Print & Media | No Data | Phoenixville, PA | 8/6/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Commercial printing | Link | |||
| Provident
Group (Sub. of Anderson & Vreeland) |
No Data | Bryan, OH | Custom Flex | No Data | Appleton, WI | 8/5/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Gravure doctor blades | Link | |||
| Jeff Bezos | $66,850 | Seattle, WA | Washington
Post Newspaper Division |
$581.7 | Washington, DC | 8/5/13 | $250.0 | Acquisition | Newspaper | Link | |||
| John W. Henry | No Data | Boston, MA | Boston
Globe (Div. New York Times) |
$1,980 | New York, NY | 8/3/13 | $70.0 | Acquisition | Newspapers | Link | |||
| Standard Register | $567.7 | Dayton, OH | Workflow One | No Data | Dayton, OH | 8/1/13 | $218.0 | Acquisition (BofA ML) |
Print management | Link | |||
| 2013 August - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | ||||||||||||
Filing Party |
Date Case Filed |
Pre-Petition Revenues ($Mil ) |
Case # |
Filing Party Address |
Circuit |
Region & City |
Judge |
Attorney for Debtor |
Notes |
|||
| Chapter 11 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| SCICOM Data Services, Ltd. | 8/6/13 | No Data | 13-43894 | Minnetonka, MN | 8th | Minnesota Minneapolis |
Michael E. Ridgway | James L. Baillie | Transactional communications | |||
| Labels Unlimite, Inc. | 8/1/13 | No Data | 13-06318 | Bayamon, PR | 1st | Puerto
Rico San Juan |
Mildred Caban Flores | Carmen D Conde Torres | Label printing | |||
| Chapter 7 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| Garland Converting Corporation | 8/29/13 | No Data | 13-34561 | Broadview, IL | 7th | Northern
IL Chicago |
Pamela S. Hollis | Joel A. Schechter | Diecutting & Finishing | |||
| Chapel Hill Printing & Graphics, Inc. | 8/27/13 | No Data | 13-81075 | Chapel Hill, NC | 4th | Middle
NC Greensboro |
William L. Stocks | James C. White | Printing & copying | |||
| Coachella Valley Printing Group Inc | 8/22/13 | No Data | 13-24250 | Indio, CA | 9th | Central
CA Riverside |
Wayne E. Johnson | William J. Howell | Commercial printing | |||
| Plastic Card Solutions, Inc. | 8/2/13 | No Data | 13-07943 | San Diego, CA | 9th | Southern
CA San Diego |
Margaret M. Mann | Craig E. Dwyer | Plastic card printing | |||
| 2013 August - 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 |
|||
| RR Donnelley - Printing Facility | Oct-13 | No Data | Jefferson City, MO | RR Donnelley | Chicago, IL | 8/1/13 | Formerly a Von Hoffman location | Link | |||
