Private Equity Gets Banged Up by Commercial Print Deal – May 2013 M&A Activity
Private equity firms love the paper and package printing industries, but spurn further relationships with commercial printing companies. Atlas Holdings, the fund behind recycled fiber tissue manufacturer Soundview Paper Company (née Marcal) joined Blue Wolf Capital, its co-investor in Finch Paper, to acquire Twin Rivers Paper. Twin Rivers manufactures packaging, label and publishing papers in New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine, USA. In an apparently unrelated coincidence of names and products, Peak Rock Capital acquired Atlas Paper Mills, a manufacturer of tissue from recycled fibers in Miami, Florida. Private equity giant, H.I.G. Capital, acquired Caraustar Industries, a manufacturer of paperboard products and printer of folding cartons. Nekoosa Coated Products, backed by Wingate Partners, moved further away from commercial printing paper with the completion of its acquisition of IGI Corporation which manufactures specialty printing and masking substrates. These deals continue the steady flow of PE-backed deals in the paper industry, with new nuptials every month to date this year.
Sun Capital Partners announced the formation of a global packaging company, combining five of its portfolio companies into one firm to be named Exopack Holdings. The new company will have 63 plants, 8,650 employees and in excess of $2.5 billion in annual revenues, primarily focused on plastics packaging.
Wellspring Capital has apparently been dented by its foray into commercial printing. Its portfolio company, Hess Print Solutions, formed by the PE firm in 2006 with the merger of two Midwest printing companies, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filed motions include a plan for a prepackaged shotgun wedding through a 363 sale of its assets to Bang Printing of Brainerd, Minnesota.
Arandell Corporation decided to date first, announcing a “partnership” with the San Francisco area digital agency, Synapse Group. Continuing the theme we struck up in our March report, this is another indication that the innovative players in the commercial print space are embracing, purchasing, or partnering with companies that deliver commercial message content digitally to web, tablet and mobile devices. It’s a trend we expect to continue.
Sterling United met its end with a Chapter 7 filing in bankruptcy court in Buffalo, NY. The company appeared on our deal log in November 2011 when United Graphics hooked up with Sterling C. Sommer Creative Printing. At that time, it was reported that the combined companies had 40 employees and $9 million in combined annual revenues. The marriage failed.
2013 May - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | |||||||||||||
Deal Party #1 (Surviving Entity) |
Pre-Deal Revenues ($Mil ) |
Party #1 Address |
Deal Party #2 |
Pre-Deal Revenues ($Mil ) |
Party #2 Address |
Date Deal Public |
Deal Value ($Mil) |
Deal Structure (Intermediary) |
Notes |
Press Releases |
|||
Bang Printing | No Data | Brainerd, MN | Hess Print Solutions | No Data | Woodstock, IL | 5/22/13 | $19.2 | 363 Sale in Ch. 11 | Commercial & book printing | Link | |||
Brown Printing | No Data | Waseca, MN | Clear Lake Press | No Data | Waseca, MN | 5/21/13 | No Data | Strategic Alliance | Commercial printing | Link | |||
Piedmont Graphics | No Data | Greensboro, NC | Color Express | No Data | Greensboro, NC | 5/15/13 | No Data | Merger | Commercial printing | Link | |||
Peak Rock Capital | No Data | Austin, TX | Atlas Paper Mills | No Data | Miami, FL | 5/21/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Paper tissue products | Link | |||
Atlas Holdings w/ Blue Wolf Capital Partners |
No Data | Greenwich, CT | Twin Rivers Paper | No Data | Edmundston, NB | 5/21/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Packaging & publishing paper | Link | |||
Electronics for Imaging (EFI) | $652.1 | Foster City, CA | PrintLeader | No Data | Palm City, FL | 5/8/13 | No Data | Acquisition | MIS systems for printing | Link | |||
Exopack Holdings | N/A | Luxembourg | Exopack | No Data | Spartanburg, SC | 5/3/13 | No Data | Merger | Packaging & plastics printing (combined $2.5Bil revenue) |
Link | |||
Exopack Holdings | N/A | Luxembourg | Britton Group | No Data | Winsford, UK | 5/3/13 | No Data | Merger | Packaging & plastics printing (combined $2.5Bil revenue) |
Link | |||
Exopack Holdings | N/A | Luxembourg | Kobusch | No Data | Warburg, DE | 5/3/13 | No Data | Merger | Packaging & plastics printing (combined $2.5Bil revenue) |
Link | |||
Exopack Holdings | N/A | Luxembourg | PACCOR | No Data | Zell/Mosel, DE | 5/3/13 | No Data | Merger | Packaging & plastics printing (combined $2.5Bil revenue) |
Link | |||
Exopack Holdings | N/A | Luxembourg | Paragon Print & Packaging | No Data | Lincolnshire, UK | 5/3/13 | No Data | Merger | Packaging & plastics printing (combined $2.5Bil revenue) |
Link | |||
H.I.G. Capital | No Data | Miami, FL | Caraustar Industries | No Data | Austell, GA | 5/2/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Paper products, folding cartons | Link | |||
PIP Printing & Marketing | No Data | Burlington, NC | PIP Printing | No Data | High Point, NC | 5/2/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Printing & copying | Link | |||
Arandell Corporation | No Data | Menomonee Falls, WI | Synapse Group | No Data | Petaluma, CA | 5/1/13 | No Data | Strategic Alliance | Digital catalogs | Link | |||
RPI | No Data | Seattle, WA | DPI | No Data | Atlanta, GA | 5/1/13 | No Data | Acquisition | Web-to-Print B2B products | Link | |||
2013 May - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | ||||||||||||
Filing Party |
Date Case Filed |
Pre-Petition Revenues ($Mil ) |
Case # |
Filing Party Address |
Circuit |
Region & City |
Judge |
Attorney for Debtor |
Notes |
|||
Chapter 11 Filings: | ||||||||||||
Hess Print Solutions, et al. (and 6 affiliates) |
5/22/13 | No Data | 13-11327 | Woodstock, IL | 3rd | Delaware Wilmington |
Kevin J. Carey | Pauline K. Morgan | Commercial printing | |||
Squire Corrugated Container Corp. | 5/6/13 | No Data | 13-19920 | South Plainfield, NJ | 3rd | New Jersey Trenton, NJ |
Raymond T. Lyons, Jr. | Daniel Stolz | Corrugated boxes | |||
Chapter 7 Filings: | ||||||||||||
Reymart Press, Inc | 5/7/13 | No Data | 13-04835 | San Diego, CA | 9th | Southern CA San Diego |
Christopher B. Latham | Pro Se | Printing & copying | |||
Sterling United, Inc. (Formerly United Graphics) |
5/17/13 | No Data | 13-11351 | Amherst, NY | 2nd | Western NY Buffalo |
Michael J. Kaplan | Pro Se | Commercial printing | |||
2013 May - Non-Bankruptcy Closures in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries | |||||||||||
Closed Company / Facility |
Date of Closure | Pre-Closure Revenues ($Mil ) |
Closing Address |
Related Party |
Related Party |
Date Closure Public |
Notes |
Press Releases |
|||
The Rayne Independent | May-13 | No Data | Rayne, LA | None | N/A | 5/30/13 | Local newspaper | Link | |||