CGX Acquires Kelmscott

HOUSTON—In the late 1990s, when the merger and acquisition craze was sweeping the commercial printing industry, there was a cluster of four or five "roll-up" consolidators making headlines every other week with their latest transactions. Among them were Consolidated Graphics (CGX) and Kelmscott Communications.

M&A mania cooled, along with the economy, and several other consolidators fell on hard times, even bankruptcy. As transactions have increased over the past year, Houston-based CGX sent a message to the industry that it remains in the M&A foreground following the late January announcement that it had acquired former competitor Kelmscott Communications, headquartered in San Francisco. Kelmscott ranked 53rd on the 2004 Printing Impressions Top 400 list with self-reported sales of $110 million.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction was slated for completion in March.

"I am very pleased that the Kelmscott companies will become a part of our organization," said Joe Davis, chairman and CEO of CGX, in a statement. "Their breadth of capabilities and outstanding reputation for customer service will complement our existing operations and further expand our national footprint and scope of services."

The newly acquired companies consist of Anderson Printing, Hollywood, CA; CDS Publications, Medford, OR; Maximum Graphics, Minneapolis; Orange County Printing, Irvine, CA; Printing Control Graphics, Seattle; Spangler Graphics, Kansas City, KS; and Watermark Graphics, San Francisco.