RR Donnelley to buy Britain’s Astron Group
U.S. printing company R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. said Monday it has agreed to buy Britain’s privately owned Astron Group in a cash deal worth about US$990 million (€760 million).
R.R. Donnelley, the largest printing company in North America, said the acquisition of Astron, a business outsourcing company that handles British passport applications, will add “slightly” to its earnings within a year of the transaction.
Donnelley Chief Executive Mark A. Angelson said that the purchase will almost double the Chicago-based company’s contract printing business and will increase operations in Europe and Asia.
“We are pleased to deliver on our commitment to grow our document-based outsourcing business,” Angelson said. “The Astron Group broadens our diverse printing and service capabilities in Europe, provides us with a strong operations center in Asia, nearly doubles our size in this fast-growing, high-margin segment and creates an expanded opportunity to sell to existing and new clients.”
Astron Group, which employs more than 4,000 people in 70 locations worldwide, will generate about US$550 million (€426 million) in 2005 revenue, Donnelley said.
The agreement is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close this summer.
Astron chief to net pounds 33m from sale
Daily Telegraph (UK), Sec. City, p 027 04-18-2005
DAVID MITCHELL, chief executive of Astron, will scoop pounds 33m from today’s sale of the outsourcing firm to RR Donnelley, a bigger American rival.
Mr Mitchell, a Glaswegian in his mid-40s, is cashing in his 6.4pc stake in Astron nine years after he led a management buyout there, but will continue to run the business for its new owner.
The pounds 520m cash deal also nets PPM Ventures, the private equity arm of the insurer Prudential and Astron’s owner, a hefty profit.
In 2000 PPM paid just pounds 90m for Huntingdon-based Astron, which prints British Airway’s flight tickets, handles millions of UK passport applications and manages Centrica’s call centres and billing systems.
That same year PPM merged Astron with rival Tacita, before swallowing printing firm Edotech for pounds 130m from Barclays Private Equity and the mail and print division of credit checking specialist Experian.
PPM appointed investment banks UBS and Citigroup in February to investigate what best to do with the business, which now employs 4,000 workers worldwide and notched up sales of pounds 250m last year. Flotation was considered as well as a sale, before an auction drew offers of around pounds 500m from rival buyout firms.
