UPFRONT

Valassis, ADVO Settle, Merge
LIVONIA, MI—After several months of acrimony, Valassis and ADVO have decided to patch their differences and merge. The sides have dropped their chancery court case and will move under one roof via a renegotiated $1.2 billion deal, at $33 per share for the outstanding common shares of ADVO stock. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007.

Bowne Buys St Ives Financial
NEW YORK—Bowne & Co. is acquiring St Ives Financial, the financial printing division of St Ives plc. Terms of the deal were not revealed. St Ives, which is keeping its annual report printing business, has financial printing operations here, Philadelphia, London, Tokyo and Luxembourg.

DuBose New CEO at Vertis
BALTIMORE—Michael DuBose has been named chairman and CEO by Vertis Communications, effective immediately. DuBose assumes the CEO position from Dean Durbin, who resigned. Durbin has been CEO since last February and president since November of 2004. DuBose assumes the chairman’s position from Donald Roland, who will remain on the board of directors.

Seiz Names Gapen President
ACWORTH, GA—Seiz Printing has tapped Darren Gapen as its new president. Gapen has more than 28 years of experience in the printing industry, including stints with Williamson Printing in Dallas and Bradley Printing of Des Plaines, IL. Most recently, he served as president of D.G. Print Solutions, Woodstock, GA.

New Post for KBA’s Sammeck
DRESDEN, GERMANY—Ralf Sammeck, president and CEO of KBA North America, is leaving his post in August to become vice president of sales at the company’s sheetfed division here. Sammeck will replace Andreas Mossner, who has accepted an appointment as managing director of KBA’s Austrian subsidiary. KBA has not announced who will succeed Sammeck as president and CEO of the newly combined North American sheetfed and web divisions in Vermont.

Flyer Deal for Transcontinental
MONTREAL—Transcontinental Inc. has inked a five-year, (C)$350 million contract to print flyers for retailer Hudson’s Bay Company’s various stores, including Zellers, The Bay, Home Outfitters and its loyalty programs. The pact includes use of Transcontinental’s value-added product and service offering that supports its flyer printing capabilities, including catalog printing and flyer distribution.

Chicago Tribune Adds Machines
CHICAGO—The Chicago Tribune will install five high-capacity shaftless Goss Magnapak packaging systems at its Freedom Center here. The systems, with Goss Omnizone supervisory controls, will allow the news-paper to achieve advanced microzoning and selective inserting capabilities. It will provide targeted zoning of the paper’s inserts.

Fetter Refocuses Business
LOUISVILLE, KY—Fetter Printing has decided to abandon its traditional line of business in order to focus on areas where company officials believe it can become a market leader. It will concentrate on two areas: producing labels and creating information management and logistics solutions for the paint and coatings industry; and creating and distributing customized sales materials for the health insurance industry.

Morrison Acquires American
MORRISTOWN, TN—Web printer Morrison Communications has purchased American Graphics, a sheetfed printer based in Sevierville, TN. Brian Bashore, owner of American Graphics, will join Morrison Communications as a senior account representative. American Graphics’ equipment will be moved into Morrison’s facility here.

Paper Supplier Faces Charge
HARTFORD, CT—Stora Enso North America has been indicted by a federal grand jury here for allegedly participating in a price-fixing conspiracy to drive up the cost of paper used for magazines and catalogs. According to the Associated Press, the Wisconsin Rapids, WI-based manufacturer is accused of conspiring to inflate prices between August 2002 and June 2003. Parent company Stora Enso Oyj denied any wrongdoing and said it would enter a plea of not guilty at the arraignment.

Cadmus Extends APS Contract
RICHMOND, VA—Cadmus Communications has been awarded a four-year contract extension by the American Physiological Society (APS) to provide a full range of scholarly journal production services including composition, content management, printing and Web-based production tracking for all of APS’ scholarly journals.

NPC Heads GPO Top 50 Chart
CHAMBERSBURG, PA—NPC, of Claysburg, PA, ended the three-year run of top sales volume posted by Monarch Litho of Montebello, CA, in the annual e-LYNXX top 50 GPO vendors list. NPC registered just under $24 million, while Monarch came in second at a shade over $22.5 million. SourceLink, Elk Grove Village, IL, was third with more than $15.5 million, followed by Gateway Press of Louisville, KY, at $12 million. Von Hoffmann Graphics, Owensville, MO, grabbed the fifth spot at just under $12 million. Rounding out the top 10 are Cenveo, Stamford, CT; McDonald & Eudy Printers, Temple Hills, MD; Banta Corp., Menasha, WI; RR Donnelley, Chicago; and Fry Communications, Mechanicsburg, PA.

Correction
In the October 2006 Gold Ink Awards section (category: specialty magazines, sheetfed) of Printing Impressions, it indicated that the 2005 spring and fall Herman Miller See publications were printed on paper from International Paper. They were actually printed by The Hennegan Co. on Mohawk Fine Papers’ Via grade.