R.R. Donnelley's DOMINATION

Steve Sanfelippo, vice president of commercial catalog sales for Waterloo, WI-based printing company Perry Judd's, says most of the customers he's dealt with in the past 22 years believe that by having a number of viable catalog sources in the printing industry, “competition breeds innovation and ideas.” Conversely, “the more homogenized the business becomes, there become fewer tracks of thinking. As a buyer you have fewer choices, and that is a concern as the industry further consolidates.”

Sanfelippo says many people within the industry are taking a wait-and-see approach. Printing is “such a competitive business that is so relationship- and service-oriented,” he says. “Customers are very tuned in to perceived changes. Banta has done a very good job in being innovative with customer-specific solutions. Now that Donnelley has access to those resources, niche-oriented solutions might be applicable to a larger customer platform.”

In addition to traditional commercial printing, Donnelley's services include document-based business process outsourcing; print fulfillment; logistics; contact centers; print management; online services; digital photography; color services; and content and database management to customers in the direct marketing, publishing, healthcare, advertising, retail, technology, financial services, and many other industries.

Meanwhile, Banta prides itself in providing a combination of printing, binding, and digital imaging solutions to publishers and direct marketers. Banta focuses on five segments: books, special-interest magazines, catalogs, direct marketing, and literature management. The company's global supply-chain management business provides outsourcing capabilities for materials sourcing, product configuration, customized kitting, order fulfillment, and global distribution.

Whether catalogers are delighted or dubious about the recent merger, most experts agree that consolidation in the printing industry is far from over.

In fact, if R.R. Donnelley & Sons had not bought Banta Corp., another printer may well have. Stamford, CT-based Cenveo, which makes envelopes and provides digital printing services, had bid to acquire Banta for $1.21 billion but withdrew after Donnelley's offer.

“One thing is for sure,” says David Goldschmidt, vice president of sales for Newport, CA-based paper brokerage Strategic Paper Group. “We can certainly expect further consolidation in both the printing and paper industries over the next couple of years.”

	Other recent printer deals

	SEPTEMBER 2006

Chicago-based R.R. Donnelley & Sons acquired the financial printing business of Canadian Bank Note Co., including facilities in Toronto and Montreal. Terms of the all cash-deal were not disclosed. Canadian Bank Note had posted annual sales in 2004 of $115 million, before it went private.

	AUGUST 2006

Sussex, WI-based printer Quad/Graphics purchased Craftsman Press West, a Reno, NV-based privately held commercial printer, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition expands Quad's geographic capabilities to the West Coast, giving it a competitive position in every region of the country. Craftsman Press West is a web-offset commercial printer specializing in regionally distributed magazines, catalogs, and retail inserts.

	JULY 2006

Quad/Graphics purchased a majority interest in Openfirst, a Milwaukee -based direct mail communications provider. Openfirst specializes in processing complex data files for expedited mail-piece production. The 10-year-old company employs about 400 workers and expected sales of $40 million for 2006.

	MARCH 2006

R.R. Donnelley acquired New York-based business process outsourcing (BPO) provider OfficeTiger for an undisclosed amount. It was Donnelley's second acquisition of a BPO provider in a year, following its acquisition in June 2005 of Astron, a U.K.-based company with resources in Europe, India, and Sri Lanka.