RR Donnelley

CHICAGO—RR Donnelley may have priced itself too high to suit several firms that had been vying to acquire North America’s largest printer. Reuters cited a source familiar with the situation as saying talks between the printer and several private equity firms broke down over a disagreement on price. The source told Reuters that the printer and its suitors “were far enough apart on price that it made it clear that nothing would happen now.” Donnelley had reportedly garnered the interests of two groups, one of which included Madison Dearborn Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Carlyle Group. A second consisted of Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific

CHICAGO—Several media outlets are reporting that RR Donnelley has held talks with various leveraged buyout (LBO) firms. The Wall Street Journal reported that one group consists of Carlyle Group, Madison Dearborn Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners. Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific Group comprise the other, the WSJ said. Taking Donnelley private could have a starting price of around $11 billion, an anonymous source told the Chicago Tribune. Doug Fitzgerald, senior vice president of marketing for RR Donnelley, said the company had no comment on the LBO rumors. Gimme Credit analyst Dave Novosel, in a recent report, believes the company lacks the kind of free-flow cash

CONVENTIONAL INDUSTRY wisdom seemed to favor large, publicly traded commercial printing enterprises. They operated with lower cost structures than their often smaller, privately held competitors, in part due to their ability to negotiate better prices for consumables like paper and ink, along with company healthcare and operating insurance premiums. They maintained deep pockets to fund continuous capital improvement expenditures for the most automated machinery and workflow platforms available, enabling higher job productivity and better employee utilization company-wide. They leveraged their ability to cross-sell products and services to a diverse customer base within a bevy of markets. They attracted the best talent; people sought them

Salt Lake City-based AlphaGraphics reports it is planning to reach 500 locations over the next five years. Ingrid Wilmet has joined Impressions Inc. of St. Paul, MN, as an account manager. Kim Hawley has joined Dallas-based Taylor Publishing as vice president of sales and marketing for the Taylor Specialty Book division. He most recently held the position of sales manager for the Commercial Book division of Walsworth Publishing. Richard Eade, formerly of Butler Color Press, has joined Inserts East in Pennsauken, NJ, as director of operations. Des Plaines Publishing, Des Plaines, IL, announced that Michael Ford has joined the company as president and CEO.

CHICAGO—An annonymous source told the Chicago Tribune that RR Donnelley has held talks with leveraged buyout firms, two of which are believed to be Madison Dearborn Partners and Blackstone Group. The paper said that talks are in the due diligence stage and do not guarantee a deal will be struck. Taking Donnelley private could have a starting price of around $11 billion, the source told the Tribune. Not everyone feels Donnelley is an ideal fit for an LBO. Gimme Credit analyst Dave Novosel, in a report released Wednesday, believes the company lacks the kind of free-flow cash leveraged buyers look for to lower debt incurred in

Quark Out to Make Seven a Lucky Number NEW YORK CITY—Competition is said to be a good thing. To the extent that’s true, these are great days for users of page layout software. Quark Inc. clearly has been tested by Adobe Systems’ challenge to its once near monopolistic position in the graphic arts market. It is responding technologically with the release of QuarkXPress 7 and offering inducements for users to upgrade, thereby keeping them in the fold. Most of the enhancements are targeted to the design community, naturally, but the company insists it kept an eye toward print service providers (PSPs) during development

A KEY element to successfully marketing your business is your ability to craft the right messages to reach the intended audience. These days, that intended audience is more likely to be marketing professionals rather than the purchasing professionals. They own the budgets that purchase our products and they are increasingly likely to be the ones who are making the decisions to purchase those products and services. If you are not calling on them, you certainly should be. And what are they really looking for? I recently came across an interesting survey of Chief Marketing Officers. While the title Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) can

Prism Award Event Promotes NYU Program NEW YORK CITY—More than 400 people turned out recently for the 21st annual Prism Award luncheon, held to raise money and awareness for New York University’s graphic communications program. This year’s Prism honor went to Richard Smith, editor-in-chief and CEO of Newsweek. The Distinguished Service Award was given to Manny de Torres, chairman and CEO of Metro Packaging and Imaging. Bramkamp Printing Holds ‘Wild’ Open House Event CINCINNATI—To help celebrate its 85th anniversary and the addition of a six-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74 press, Bramkamp Printing put on a “Wild” open house. Held in conjunction with The Cincinnati Zoo and

Digital Printing Gear New to Boston Area LOWELL, MA—King Printing has added a Kodak NexPress 2100 digital production color press, Kodak NexTreme DL-1000 variable data client-server package and Kodak NexTreme DL-100 variable data software. Adi Chinai, joint managing director (pictured), says the installation has helped grow the education and trade book publishing segments of his business by giving customers quicker time to market. Printing Excellence Celebrated by GAA PHILADELPHIA—The Graphic Arts Association (GAA) recently held its 35th annual Neographics awards ceremony and banquet to celebrate quality printing, as well as Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday. Riegel Printing of Ewing, NJ, was the Prisco 2006 Power

Robert Prah, formerly national accounts manager for Screen (USA), has been appointed vice president of sales. Prah oversees the Screen sales force in the United States and Canada. Boise Paper’s board of directors has approved a $72 million capital project to expand Boise’s production of pressure-sensitive paper. The project involves adding new capacity to the existing #3 paper machine at Boise’s mill in Wallula, WA, with state-of-the-art equipment that will increase the company’s pressure-sensitive capacity by 200,000 tons. Eastman Kodak has named Jeffrey Hayzlett chief marketing officer and vice president for its Graphic Communications Group (GCG). Hayzlett has nearly 25 years of international marketing, sales and