In a major deal in the printing industry today, Quad/Graphics has reached an agreement to acquire Courier Corp. in a deal the companies valued at $260 million. Quad/Graphics will pay Courier the equivalent of $20.50 per share in a combination of cash and stock. Courier’s stock priced closed at $14.49 on January 15. The purchase price includes the assumption of net debt and capital leases.
Courier had sales of $283 million in the fiscal year ended September 7, 2014 and had adjusted EBITDA of $42 million. The company generated $259 million from its manufacturing business and $33 million from its publishing division. Its manufacturing division operates in three segments: education, religion, and specialty trade. The publishing group has lost money the last few years and in 2014 it sold Creative Homeowner. Its existing publishing properties are Dover Publications and REA. It also owns the self-publishing platform FastPencil. It wasn’t clear what will happen to the publishing unit after the deal closes, which is expected to occur by the middle of the year.
Following the closure of the deal, Courier chairman Jim Conway with join Quad/Graphics as president of the book division. Courier was an early adapter of digital printing and Quad/Graphics chairman Joel Quadracci commented on that aspect of their business as a key to the purchase. “Using digital technology, Courier pioneered the development of customization solutions that now bring class-specific versions of academic textbooks to millions of students each year. The company has continually reinvested in its platform, and with our previously announced investment in 20-plus digital presses and integrated systems, together we will accelerate a broad industry transition to a print-on-demand, zero-inventory model.”
The purchase came just days after Quad/Graphics announced a major initiative to invest in print technology over the next three year. For the first nine months of 2014, the Wisconsin-based Quad/Graphics had sales of $1.2 billion and operating earnings of $54 million
