North America's largest commercial printing group, RR Donnelley & Sons (RRD), which employs 33,000 people in 28 countries, announced it has signed a definitive merger agreement with Atlas Holding for an enterprise value of $2.1 billion.
The agreement calls for Atlas to acquire all of the outstanding shares of RRD's common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange for $8.52 per share, which is approximately 72.8% above RRD's closing stock price on October 11, 2021 and 64.1% above RRD's 60-day average price.
Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the Atlas Group operates 23 companies that employ approximately 40,000 people in more than 250 locations worldwide. Atlas operates in a wide variety of industries including packaging, paper and printing.
Notably, as of December 2020, it owns U.S. book, magazine and catalog printing giant LSC Communications, which was founded by RRD in 2016. Atlas represents $10 billion in sales.
"RRD's Board of Directors regularly reviews the company's strategic priorities, and today's announcement is the culmination of a thorough multi-year process to maximize value for RRD shareholders." said John Pope, Chairman of the Board of RRD. "After careful and extensive analysis, RRD's Board of Directors believes that this transaction, which offers an immediate premium and some cash value, is in the best interest of RRD and our shareholders."
Under the terms of this transaction, scheduled for the first half of 2022, the printer, which generated $4.77 billion in revenue in 2020 (-12.9% compared to 2019), will no longer be listed on the stock exchange.
