UPFRONT
Presstek Bids for A.B.Dick
NILES, IL—A.B.Dick Co. announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Soon after the announcement, Hudson, NH-based Presstek Inc. unveiled a detailed plan to acquire the business and assets of the company through a U.S. Bankruptcy Code section 363 asset sale, a deal valued at approximately $40 million. Presstek President and CEO Edward Marino stressed that there was no guarantee his company would be successful in the open bidding environment of a bankruptcy proceeding.
Bowne's Johnson Retires
NEW YORK CITY—Bowne & Co. announced the immediate retirement of Robert M. Johnson from the company and its board of directors for personal reasons. Johnson had been serving as chairman, president and CEO. The board has appointed H. Marshall Schwarz, currently chairman of the executive committee, to serve as non-executive chairman of the board and Philip E. Kucera, currently senior vice president and general counsel, assumes the role of interim CEO.
Cenveo Acquires Valco Graphics
ENGLEWOOD, CO—Seattle-based web and sheetfed printer Valco Graphics has been acquired by Cenveo, formerly known as Mail-Well. Compass Capital Partners represented the selling shareholders of Valco in the deal. Compass also announced it had represented the interests of Western Graphics & Data, a Portland, OR, manufacturer of plastic cards and wide-format point-of-purchase printing, in its sale to an undisclosed party.
Donnelley Shutters Facility
TONAWANDA, NY—A former Colorforms plant that came to RR Donnelley in its acquisition of Moore Wallace has closed. The shutdown cost 85 employees their jobs. The facility produced credit card forms.
Transcontinental Unit Expands
MONTREAL—Transcontinental Media, the publishing unit of Transcontinental Inc., has acquired Avid Media, which produces four titles with a combined readership of 6.3 million. Avid Media publishes Canadian Gardening, Canadian Home and Country, Canadian Workshop and Outdoor Canada. The deal augments Transcontinental's standing as the top publisher of consumer magazines in Canada based on the number of titles published, total number of readers and advertising pages sold.
AGT: Black Dot's Nardulli Retiring
NEW YORK—Sonny Nardulli, president of the Black Dot business unit of Applied Graphics Technologies (AGT), will retire at the end of 2004. Nardulli has been a member of Black Dot Group for 38 years. He became president and COO of the unit in 1992.
Sun Chemical Acquires Rycoline
FORT LEE, NJ—Sun Chemical announced it has acquired 100 percent of the shares of Rycoline Inc., a leading manufacturer of fountain solutions, blankets and consumables. Rycoline is based in Chicago, with production facilities in six states.
CGX Rebrands Business Unit
HOUSTON—Consolidated Graphics (CGX) has rebranded its CGXmedia business unit, which is now called CGXSolutions, with the tagline, "Technology for Print." Utilizing an enhanced, customer-focused format, CGXSolutions offers an extensive range of value-added print procurement, production and workflow management services developed under CGXmedia.
Banta Adds Distribution Space
HARRISONBURG, VA—Banta Corp. has expanded its distribution center here by 179,000 to 433,000 square feet in size. The addition is intended to improve customer service, reduce operational complexity and provide room for future growth. The new distribution facility processes 5,500 cartons of books and materials, containing more than 100,000 units, per day.
Heidelberg, Goss Finalize Deal
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—Heidelberg and Goss International have finalized the deal that will send Heidelberg's commercial web, newspaper and U.S. finishing systems (Heidelberg Web Systems) business for web offset machines to Goss. As part of the deal, Heidelberg will hold a 15 percent share in Goss. The deal is pending confirmation by European antitrust organizations. Financial details were not disclosed.
PJ's Adds Sunday at Baraboo
WATERLOO, WI—Perry Judd's announced it has purchased a Heidelberg Sunday 3000 press with a short cutoff for its 620,000-square-foot facility in Baraboo, WI. The web press is slated to be running in December. The acquisition of the Sunday press allows Perry Judd's to better service its catalog clientele.
Goss Expands NYT's Production
NEW YORK—The New York Times has signed a letter of intent with Goss International for a multi-site investment program that will include tower additions and couple additions across four newspaper printing facilities. Included in the deal are three large Goss newspaper tower additions and 36 couple additions for the New York Times Edison (NJ) and College Point (NY) locations, along with the Boston Globe and Lakeland Ledger facilities. The agreement was signed in June during NEXPO in Washington, DC.
Deluxe to Acquire NEBS
ST. PAUL, MN—Deluxe Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire New England Business Service (NEBS), a Groton, MA-based provider of products and services to small businesses. Under the terms of the agreement, Deluxe will pay $44 in cash for each NEBS share and will assume its outstanding debt, which is estimated to total approximately $160 million.
Correction
In the May 2004 feature on Transcontinental titled "Growth on the Horizon," the total cash consideration for the company's acquisition of CC3 and Optipress was $189 million, not $223 million.
