CJK Group Bolsters Educational Book Printing With Webcrafters Acquisition

CJK Group, led by CEO Chris Kurtzman, is a largely unknown, low-profile industry conglomerate that’s been methodically consolidating the book manufacturing market. But the entity can no longer fly under the radar screen as it sounds another “Bang!” … no pun intended … with yet another major M&A transaction. The latest acquisition by Brainerd, Minn.-based Bang Printing and its holding company, CJK Group, is the assets of Webcrafters, a 270-employee, Madison, Wis., printer that caters to the educational publishing community as a manufacturer of textbooks, workbooks, teacher and student guides, and related educational support materials. Terms of the definitive agreement reached between the two privately-held companies were not disclosed.

CJK Group is the holding company for Bang Printing, a manufacturer of books, catalogs, publications and fulfillment services in Brainerd, Minn., and Palmdale, Calif., which has already acquired Hess Print Solutions in Brimfield, Ohio; Sentinel Printing, St. Cloud, Minn.; Victor Graphics in Baltimore; Sinclair Printing, Los Angeles; and The Sheridan Group with production facilities in Waterbury, Vt., Hanover, N.H., Hanover, Pa., Chelsea, Mich., and a corporate office in Hunt Valley, Md. Prior to Webcrafters, CJK Group’s most recent acquisition comprised the $196.5 million, 1,000-employee Sheridan Group this past April. (Click here to read about that M&A transaction.)

The agreement to acquire Webcrafters is expected to close on Nov. 1, and teams will be meeting between now and then to strategize, perform due diligence, study operational procedures and analyze potential redundancies, CJK Group VP of Marketing Susan Wiercinski told Printing Impressions earlier today. She said that it’s premature at this point to surmise what will lie ahead for the 270-employee, two-facility Webcrafters operation – which has been a fixture in Madison, Wis., for more than 150 years.

Webcrafters was acquired in 1959 and led by its former CEO, John Frautschi – a 2000 Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductee – for many years. He passed away March 9, 2017, at age 87.
more at:  http://www.piworld.com/article/cjk-group-bolsters-educational-book-printing-capacity-acquisition-webcrafters/#ne=d7f0e6e16b0d037f71fc050491da5623utm_source=today-on-piworldutm_medium=newsletterutm_campaign=2017-10-02&utm_content=book+manufacturing+consolidation%3A+cjk+group+bolsters+educational+book+printing+with+webcrafters+acquisition-5

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