Publicly Held Printers Caught in Stormy Seas —Michelson

At press time, the latest word out of the Windy City is that RR Donnelley is in preliminary negotiations with two competing leveraged buyout (LBO) consortiums to take North America's largest printing conglomerate private. Some analysts now question whether a deal will actually materialize, however, given the chasm that reportedly exists between the likely bids and what Donnelley's board feels the company is worth. Partly due to a heavy debt load, the printer's share price has been in the doldrums for some time, despite efforts by management to morph beyond traditional print into services such as business process outsourcing through its recent acquisitions of OfficeTiger and The Astron Group.