Year in Review — Big Deals Make Comeback

Bowne & Co. of New York decided to close its Milwaukee facility as part of a plan to integrate its manufacturing capabilities. The Milwaukee digital plant was integrated into Bowne’s South Bend, IN, operations.

Transcontinental Inc. strengthened its position in Canada with the acquisition of PLM Group of Toronto for C$130 million. PLM registered sales of C$126 million in 2006.

And, speaking of Transcontinental, Luc Desjardins left the top executive role in the hands of François Olivier, the son-in-law of Transcontinental founder Remi Marcoux. Under Desjardins’ guidance, Canada’s second largest printer grew from a market capitalization of C$653 million to C$1.8 billion.

NewPage agreed to plunk down $1.5 billion for Stora Enso’s paper manufacturing operations in North America. The deal also included a $200 million note and a 19.9 percent equity interest in the new company.

Ralf Sammek stepped down as president and CEO of KBA North America and was replaced by Holger Garbrecht. Sammek returned to Germany upon being promoted to executive vice president of worldwide sheetfed sales.

Quad/Graphics of Sussex, WI, and its insurance company won a $63 million judgment in a lawsuit resulting from the 2002 collapse of the printer’s racking system that caused a fire and killed one person. A jury found three manufacturers of Quad’s automated shelving system responsible to varying degrees for the collapse at its Lomira, WI, plant.

Nogales Investors, the private equity firm that owns Los Angeles-based Graphic Press, acquired Insync Media of Inglewood, CA, and merged the two companies together to create Insync Marketing Solutions.

As mills continued to reduce capacity, Wausau Paper said it would close its Groveton, NH, plant at year’s end, resulting in the loss of 300 jobs. This will slice Wausau production capacity by 28 percent. PI