R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (NYSE: RRD) has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Atlas Holdings in a deal valued at $2.1 billion, the Chicago-based commercial printer announced.
The merger agreement was unanimously approved by R.R. Donnelley’s board of directors. Under the terms of the agreement, Atlas will acquire all of the outstanding shares of RRD common stock, and stockholders will receive $8.52 for each share. The purchase price represents a premium of 29.1 percent over RRD’s closing price on Nov. 2.
R.R. Donnelley reported sales of $5.5 billion for its fiscal 2020, making it the biggest printer in North America – outpacing its closest competitor, Quad (Sussex, Wisconsin), by $1.6 billion.
In addition to providing wide-format and digital print services, R.R. Donnelley is also an SEC filing agent that converts paper documents for submission to the regulatory agency. It made headlines in 2012 when its submission process went wrong and Google’s quarterly results were prematurely released, causing market shockwaves.
RRD will solicit additional acquisition proposals from third parties for 25 calendar days from the signing of the merger agreement.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by RRD stockholders.