Workflow Management Considers Refinancing or Selling Firm
Palm Beach, Fla.-based Workflow Management Inc., the parent company of $272 million distributorship SFI and e-commerce solutions provider iGetSmart.com™, announced it's seeking ways to improve the company's capital structure, including refinancing its bank debt and recapitalization or sale of the firm. Workflow must repay at least $50 million of bank debt by Dec. 31.
"A number of third parties" have contacted Workflow to explore options that include refinancing and acquisition, according to a press release from Workflow. Several people, including Workflow's board of directors, are discussing the options. "There can be no assurance that any transaction will occur," the release said.
The company also announced that Thomas B. D'Agostino Jr., who was appointed president of SFI in 1998, resigned from Workflow's board of directors. (In 1997, U.S. Office Products Company bought SFI, and SFI became part of its Print Management Division. In June 1998, USOP spun off that division, which became Workflow Management Inc.)
Workflow's board includes Thomas B. D'Agostino Sr. (chairman), Gary W. Ampulski, Thomas A. Brown Sr., Gerald F. Mahoney, James J. Maiwurm, Roger J. Pearson, Peter S. Redding and F. Craig Wilson.
Moore Wallace Launches Consolidated Division
Mississauga, Ontario-based Moore Wallace North America Inc. created a new direct marketing division as a result of the merger of Moore Corp. Ltd. and Wallace Computer Services Inc., based in Lisle, Ill.
Moore's acquisition of Wallace, which became final May 15, left the merged company with two direct marketing divisions. The creation of the new division, Moore Wallace Response Marketing Services, represents a consolidation of the two separate divisions.
The new division will operate five direct mail production facilities in the following locations: Clinton, Ill.; Green Bay and De Pere, Wis.; Tonawanda, N.Y.; and La Palma, Calif. The division also operates in Europe, with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and production facilities in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Moore Wallace Response Marketing provides clients with a variety of direct marketing services, including direct marketing strategy, list brokerage, data work and modeling, creative design, copywriting and offer development, and color web printing and digital printing. It operates more than 250 data imaging systems in its facilities.
GPO, OMB Announce Deal on Private Printers
The Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reached an agreement that will free executive-branch agencies to choose their own printers while saving taxpayer dollars. The agreement also will empower the GPO to maximize public access to federal information, according to a press release from both groups.
Private-sector printers welcomed the news. "We have worked closely with the OMB and [Bruce R. James, public printer of the United States] on a new print procurement model, and we believe this announcement marks a new era in federal-printing policy," said Ben Cooper, executive vice president of Alexandria, Va.-based Printing Industries of America.
Services After Printing Key to Success, Study Says
The key to digital printing success is offering services after products are printed, not the press' capabilities alone, according to a report by TrendWatch Graphic Arts, a New York-based organization that publishes market trend and information reports.
The report, "Digital Postpress: The Convergence Is Underway," analyzes the market for binding and finishing for digital presses. To accommodate the "just-in-time frames," frequent job changeovers and shorter runs, companies have automated their binderies and devised innovative solutions to finishing challenges, the report said.
Georgia-Pacific to Buy Sheet Plant
Atlanta-based paper and packaging supplier Georgia-Pacific Corp. signed a definitive agreement to buy National Solutions Group's Interstate Packaging sheet plant in Albert Lea, Minn. Georgia-Pacific operates more than 50 packaging plants and is a leading manufacturer of tissue, packaging, paper, building products, pulp and related chemicals. In April, the firm announced closing of its Oxford, Miss., particleboard plant, affecting 170 employees.
