UPFRONT
Donnelley Selling Banta HQ
MENASHA, WI—Interested in some posh office space? If so, you might want to consider giving RR Donnelley a call. Banta’s downtown headquarters here is being sold by Donnelley, according to the Appleton Post-Crescent. The three-floor building, with 10,000 square feet per floor, is available for a cool $3.7 million. The Los Angeles-based commercial firm of CB Richard Ellis is listing the property at 225 West Main St., according to the paper. It can also be leased.
Inserted Ads Prompt Lawsuit
JEFFERSON CITY, MO—Two residents have filed lawsuits in federal court, claiming the state Revenue Department violated their privacy by allowing advertisements to be inserted in vehicle registration renewal notices. The Revenue Department had contracted a printer, Imagitas, to produce the notices for free in return for the right to sell and insert commercial advertisements with the notices. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and damages of $2,500 per person whose information is alleged to have been “improperly provided.”
Miller New Turnbull President
EUGENE, OR—Employee-owned Shelton Turnbull Printers has named Barry Miller its new president. Miller boasts more than 20 years of experience in heading up medium-sized companies in the printing and packaging industries. His managerial experience includes stints with companies affiliated with Anheuser-Busch and Gallo Winery. Shelton Turnbull specializes in general commercial printing and promotional items.
EGT Group Updates, Expands
MADISON HEIGHTS, MI—The EGT Group is investing more than $2 million to add an 18,000-square-foot building and install a Xerox iGen3 digital press. The building gives EGT in excess of 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Also included in the capex initiative is an upgraded proofing system, with additional staff being added to support and expand EGT’s customer base.
Sandy Gets Full Stake in TBC
CLIFTON, NJ—Sandy Alexander has completed the full acquisition of digital printer TBC and will rename the company eSandy Alexander. The digital branch will remain at its Fairfield, NJ, site. The printer acquired a 50 percent share of TBC in November of 2004. Sandy Alexander also announced it has pledged to reduce its total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 11 percent per dollar of revenue from 2006 to 2012.
Vintage Printing Buys Building
LOUISVILLE, KY—Vintage Printing has acquired a 20,000-square-foot building that it plans to renovate and ultimately house sales, accounting and customer service functions, according to Business First of Louisville. Vintage Printing plunked down just under $500,000 for the facility. The acquisition and repair of the building is expected to result in the addition of eight new positions, the publication reported.
Quad Nets L.L. Bean Pact
SUSSEX, WI—Quad/Graphics has secured a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal to become the exclusive printer and prepress provider for L.L. Bean catalogs beginning in January 2008. The contract covers all prepress, printing and binding for more than 65 catalogs.
Healthcare Accord for Standard
DAYTON, OH—Standard Register has signed a three-year contract with Premier Purchasing Partners, a healthcare purchasing network. The deal arranges for Standard Register to provide enterprise document solutions and services for Premier’s 1,500-plus hospitals and nearly 45,000 other healthcare sites.
Paper Buys New Press, Facility
SALISBURY, MD—The Daily Times newspaper will be acquiring a new printing press and production facility with a price tag of $6.5 million. The new 48,000-square-foot plant is slated to open in early 2008. A Goss Urbanite web press will allow the paper to print up to 48 pages of full color. The Gannett-owned Daily Times is the flagship publication of Delmarva Media Group, which includes nine weekly newspapers.
TPC Breaks Ground for Plant
LEWISTON, ID—Tribune Publishing, which publishes the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, has broken ground for the construction of a 30,000-square-foot facility that will house a new MAN Roland Uniset 75 web press. The press is due to go live in June of 2008.
GateHouse Buys Four Papers
ROCKFORD, IL—GateHouse Media of Fairport, NY, has obtained four newspapers from the Gannett Co., including the Rockford Register Star, for a combined $410 million. It is the seventh parent company for the Register Star, which is 152 years old. All 420 Register Star employees will be retained, as will Publisher Fritz Jacobi. The other papers involved in the sale are the Norwich (CT) Bulletin, the Utica (NY) Observer-Dispatch and the Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch.
Bundler Suppliers Have Merged
FORT PAYNE, AL—The combination of Samuel Strapping Systems, News Group and Ovalstrapping Graphics has created GO Packaging, which will offer newspaper customers a full line of high-speed in-line and off-line bundling equipment. GO Packaging will also offer a line of stretch film equipment, as well as stretch film and strapping.
PI Cracks BtoB Top 100 Again
PHILADELPHIA—Printing Impressions magazine again charted on BtoB magazine’s Top 100 trade publications list based on 2006 revenues, coming in at 61. It finished 63rd a year ago. The listing, featured in BtoB’s March 12 issue, based PI’s revenues on 1,024 advertising pages. Printing Impressions and Packaging Digest, ranked 93rd, were the only printing industry-related publications to crack the list. PC Magazine topped the rankings again.
