BOPI, Illinois Graphics Combine Forces
BLOOMINGTON, IL—Tom Mercier, president and CEO of BOPI, and Michael Dolan, president and CEO of Illinois Graphics, announced an agreement to merge the operations of the two companies. The deal is expected to be completed by June 1. The resulting enterprise will be known as BOPI and operate out of BOPI’s existing facility. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.
The merger will strengthen BOPI’s position as a provider of business communications. Founded in 1947 as Bloomington Offset Process, a commercial printing operation, BOPI has also established itself in the direct marketing field through initiatives in variable data digital printing, personalized direct mail, data services, Web-based commerce, collateral management and fulfillment.
Illinois Graphics was founded in 1970 when Pantagraph Printing and Stationery of Bloomington acquired McKnight Publishing’s Bloomington production facility and has since been operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. Dolan has served as president and CEO of both Illinois Graphics and Pantagraph Printing and Stationery, and will not join BOPI as a result of the transaction. He will remain at the helm of Pantagraph Printing and Stationery, and that company will retain ownership of the Illinois Graphics facilities. Plans for those assets are undetermined at this time.
The NAPL Business Advisory Team, led by senior vice presidents John Hyde and Tim Fischer, provided consultative services to BOPI in the transaction.