Privately held Quad/Graphics Inc. of the U.S. is expected to acquire Canadian rival World Color Press Inc. for roughly $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion, said people familiar with the matter, in a deal that would create North America's second-largest commercial printer by sales, behind industry giant R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.
Under the plan, these people said, shareholders of Toronto-listed World Color, which prints such magazines as Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone, as well as the Crate & Barrel catalog and Yellow Book directory, would get a 40% stake in the newly combined company. The new company would then list on a U.S. stock exchange, they said, in effect bringing Quad/Graphics, whose clients include Newsweek, GQ and the L.L. Bean catalog, to the public market for the first time since its founding in 1971.
Ironically, World Color Press purchased the old Krueger business, which occupied a building on 124th/Bluemound. They closed that plant a number of years ago.Krueger employed Harry Quadracci, and old man Krueger actually provided some of Quadracci's initial capital when QuadGraphics was launched.
My Dad worked at Krueger for 30 years, and so he worked for Harry. Harry wanted him to come along when he started QG, but Dad stayed put. He was retired when the Brookfield plant closed, an event that saddened, but didn't surprise him. Wish he was still around so I could ask him how he feels about this, but I think it would make him smile.
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