Taylor Corp. Acquires G. Neil

Nearly a year after parent company Centis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, human-resources products cataloger G. Neil Cos. was sold to Taylor Corp. for $34.73 million in cash plus assumed liabilities, totaling more than $40 million overall. Taylor, a North Mankato, MN-based specialty printing company, also owns the Current and PaperDirect catalogs.

The deal, which closed on May 14, was essentially a sale of assets in bankruptcy, according to New York-based SSG Capital Advisors, the investment bank that advised Centis.

Burdened by excessive debt, Brea, CA-based signage and office products manufacturer/marketer Centis filed for Chapter 11 on July 31, 2002. In addition to G. Neil, the $155 million Centis owned a wholesale division, a consumer products division, and three other catalogs — Century Business Solutions, Century Photo Products, and Light Impressions, which are all still for sale. Centis, then known as 20th Century Plastics, acquired G. Neil in 1998.

Sunrise, FL-based G. Neil carries more than 2,500 human-resources-related products, including compliancy signage, motivational gifts, and employee records software. It employs about 350 workers and mails 35 million catalogs a year. According to its data card, G. Neil has more than 212,000 12-month buyers, who spend an average of $85 an order.

Joe Hilger, a Taylor executive, has been installed as the new president of G. Neil. But other than sharing that information, Taylor vice president Steve Singer declines to detail what the company has planned for G. Neil.

“We run autonomous businesses here, and we plan to do the same with G. Neil,” Singer says, adding that Taylor doesn’t intend to move the company out of Florida. In fact, he says, “we just signed a five-year lease on the building.”

Industry watchers approve of the deal. “G. Neil attracted substantial interest from strategic and financial buyers because of its tremendous brand recognition, high-margin products, and impressive management team,” says Allyson DeMatteo, managing director for SSG Capital Advisors. “Despite the various external factors affecting revenues in the direct marketing industry, we are pleased to have closed this transaction at a healthy multiple of earnings.”

Taylor, which was founded in 1951, operates about 80 companies in Australia, Europe, and North America. Its subsidiaries print wedding invitations, Post-it Notes, and graduation announcements. Its PaperDirect title sells specialty papers for desktop publishing; Current sells stationery, wrapping supplies, and other paper items.

“Taylor is a great buyer” for G. Neil, says Claire Gruppo, managing director of New York-based investment bank Gruppo, Levey & Co., “because it’s already in the business of selling personalized paper products through its Current and Paper Direct brands. I suspect that G. Neil will somehow get folded into that business.”