Digital content platforms attracted financial and strategic buyers last month, as increasingly sophisticated online systems drive information to centralized providers that automate the design, hosting and distribution of content. That content may or may not be printed, and often times will be printed only on-demand as the final consumer sees fit for their needs.
Academic journals caught the interest of private equity investor Accel-KKR, which acquired a majority interest in HighWire Press. HighWire, formerly a venture of Stanford University, has been spun off and launched into the competitive world of PE-backed companies. HighWire provides an open electronic platform for universities and other publishers of scholarly journals to develop and host their academic journals. Long noted for high page counts and short runs, academic journals were a natural and early adopter of online publishing. Notably, there is no actual printing press at HighWire Press and the content managed on its platform is delivered in digital form.
Across the country at another august institution, Princeton University, the ripple effect is being felt, with the announcement last month that the California Princeton Fulfillment Services, publisher and distributor of about 340 books for Princeton University, will be winding down and closing by this time next year. As the investment in digital publishing platforms continues to improve the management and delivery of online content, Princeton University Press has decided to outsource the hosting and fulfillment of publications to Perseus Distribution Services. Perseus boasts its own digital distribution services, linked to short run and print-on-demand partners, as well as over a million square feet for warehousing pre-printed books. The partner in the Princeton operation, The University of California Press, will be moving its digital journal content over to HighWire.
Two trends evident from recent transactions appear unrelated at first, but may in fact be connected, as larger companies invest in sophisticated customer-facing software platforms, and draw business away from the small mom-and-pop shops. Staples, the national chain of office supply retailers, acquired PNI Digital Media, a provider of digital print software that provides easy online ordering of consumer and corporate printed products. This follows on the heels of other recent transactions in the web-to-print space, such as Vistaprint’s acquisition of Pixartprinting last month. Over the past couple months, we have noticed an increase in the number of small local commercial printing and copying centers that filed for liquidation under Chapter 7; we found six that filed in May. This is in addition to an unknown number of small printing company owners that just gave, up, closed the door and walked away without the expense of actually filing bankruptcy. I expect that we’ll see more closures of independent small print/copy shops, driven in part by the increasing ease with which customers can go online and purchase their printing.
The buyer of the Boston Globe and the Telegram & Gazette, acquired last August in the spin-off from The New York Times, sold off the Telegram & Gazette which serves the mid region of Massachusetts. The buyer was Halifax Media, backed by PE firms Stephens Capital Partners and Redding Investments. In a twist of fate, the sale to Halifax brings former corporate cousins back under the same management, since Halifax had previously purchased and still owns the former New York Times Regional Media Group which consists of newspapers primarily located in the southeast US.
In another newspaper industry transaction, the Baltimore Sun Media Group announced that it is acquiring The Annapolis Capital and other local papers in Maryland. The Baltimore Sun Media Group is likely to find itself as the target in the near future, as it is owned by the Tribune Co., which also owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times and has announced that it plans to divest its portfolio of newspapers.
Wide format printers were targets in several deals in May, including the acquisition of wide format franchisor Speedpro Imaging in a deal backed by private equity investor Fairfield-Maxwell. The Garvey Group which as we reported in July 2013 acquired the western wide format division of Schawk, continued its growth by acquisition strategy with the purchase of retail display and wide format specialist Troyk Printing located in Franklin, Michigan. Industry behemoth RR Donnelley acquired the relatively tiny True Colors, a wide format shop in Vancouver, British Columbia.
| 2014 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 | |||
| Accel-KKR | No Data | Menlo Park, CA | HighWire Press | No Data | Redwood City, CA | 5/30/14 | No Data | Purchase of Majority Interest | Academic journal e-platform | Link | |||
| Welch Packaging | No Data | Elkhart, IN | Go Packaging | No Data | Lombard, IL | 5/30/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Corrugated packaging | Link | |||
| DocuSource | $1,600 | Dallas, TX | Formit Print Management | No Data | Portland, OR | 5/30/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Printing & promotional items | Link | |||
| Halifax Media Group | No Data | Daytona Beach, FL | Telegram & Gazette | No Data | Worcester, MA | 5/21/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Regional newspaper | Link | |||
| Fairfield-Maxwell | No Data | New York, NY | Speedpro Imaging | No Data | Scottsdale, AZ | 5/19/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Wide format franchisor | Link | |||
| First Edge Solutions | No Data | Milwaukee, WI | Proven Direct | No Data | Milwaukee, WI | 5/16/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Digital printing & mailing | Link | |||
| Phoenix Media (Div Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing) | No Data | Nanjing, China | Publications International (Children's Book Products) | No Data | Lincolnwood, IL | 5/14/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Magazine & book publisher | Link | |||
| RR Donnelley | $10,620 | Chicago, IL | True Colours | No Data | Vancouver, BC | 5/13/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Wide format printing | Link | |||
| Tinicum | No Data | New York, NY | F+W Media | $60.0 | New York, NY | 5/9/14 | No Data | Acquisition (Jordan Edmiston) | Publisher of specialty titles | Link | |||
| Rapid Color Printing | No Data | Las Vegas, NV | American Craftsman Technology | No Data | Atlanta, GA | 5/7/14 | No Data | Acquisition (HBT - Horizon) | Commercial printing | Link | |||
| Garvey Group | No Data | Milwaukee, MI | Troyk Printing | No Data | Franklin, MI | 5/6/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Retail display & wide format | Link | |||
| Staples | $22,950 | Framingham, MA | PNI Digital Media | CDN $25.7 | Vancouver, BC | 5/5/14 | CDN $73.9 | Acquisition | Digital print software | Link | |||
| Baltimore Sun Media Group (Div. Tribune Co.) | No Data | Baltimore, MD | The Annapolis Capital &Others (Div Landmark Media Enterprises) | No Data | Norfolk, VA | 5/1/14 | No Data | Acquisitions | Regional & local newspapers | Link | |||
| Mitchell Graphics | No Data | Petoskey, MI | Progress Printers | No Data | Traverse City, MI | 5/1/14 | No Data | Acquisition | Commercial printing | Link | |||
| 2014 May - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | ||||||||||||
Filing Party | Date Case Filed | Pre-Petition Revenues ($Mil ) | Case # | Filing Party Address | Circuit | Region & City | Judge | Attorney for Debtor | Notes | |||
| Chapter 11 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| The Bookhouse Group | 5/30/14 | No Data | 14-60536 | Covington, GA | 11th | Northern GA Atlanta | C. Ray Mullins | Paul Reece Marr | Publishers of commemorative books | |||
| Chapter 7 Filings: | ||||||||||||
| IPF Printing Inc | 5/29/14 | No Data | 14-20541 | Valencia, CA | 9th | Central CA Los Angeles | Sheri Bluebond | Pro Se | Printing & copying | |||
| Edge Digital Graphics Express, LLC | 5/12/14 | No Data | 14-59412 | Kennesaw, GA | 11th | Northern GA Atlanta | Barbara Ellis-Monro | Samuel D. Hicks | Wide format printing | |||
| Digital Pressworx, LLC | 5/12/14 | No Data | 14-32350 | Lantana, TX | 5th | Northern TX Dallas | Barbara J. Houser | Jonathan L. Howell | Commercial printing | |||
| Los Angeles Printing Center, Inc. | 5/9/14 | No Data | 14-19093 | Los Angeles, CA | 9th | Central CA Los Angeles | Sheri Bluebond | David S. Hagen | Printing & copying | |||
| Graphics Express of LA, L.L.C. | 5/8/154 | No Data | 14-20430 | Lake Arthur, LA | 5th | Western LA Lafayette | Robert Summerhays | David J. Williams | Printing & copying | |||
| Steele & Steel Printing Inc. | 5/2/14 | No Data | 14-11048 | Wakefield, RI | 1st | Rhode Island Providence | Diane Finkle | Lisa A. Geremia | Commercial printing | |||
| 2014 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 | |||
| Source Interlink | Jun-14 | $750 | Bonita Springs, FL | None | N/A | 5/30/14 | Magazine distribution | Link | |||
| Banner Printing | 5/25/14 | No Data | Sierra Vista, AZ | None | N/A | 5/25/14 | Printing & copying | Link | |||
| California Princeton Fulfillment Services | Jun-15 | No Data | Ewing, NJ | Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | 5/18/14 | Outsourcing document services to Perseus | Link | |||
| Manilla | 7/1/14 | No Data | New York, NY | Hearst Communications | New York, NY | 5/16/14 | Paperless document system | Link | |||
| Resolute Forest Products - Pulp Mill | Jun-14 | No Data | Fort Frances, ON | Resolute Forest Products | Montréal, QC | 5/6/14 | Pulp & paper mill (idled Nov-12) | Link | |||
| Hiatt Printing Campus Facility | 5/16/14 | No Data | Ball University, Muncie, IN | Hiatt Printing | Munice, IN | 5/2/14 | Printing & copying / Course materials | Link | |||