Paragon Group (Paragon), the leading provider of Customer Communications, Identification and Graphics Services in Europe, and R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) (NYSE: RRD), a leading global provider of multichannel solutions for marketing and business communications, announced today that Paragon has acquired RRD’s European Global Document Solutions (GDS) business, headquartered in the UK, for an undisclosed amount. GDS provides document management services and solutions. The transaction closed on October 25, 2019.
GDS has locations in the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Italy and employs approximately 1,500 people. GDS’ net sales were approximately $270 million in 2018.
Patrick Crean, Paragon Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, “We are delighted to acquire RRD’s GDS European businesses and are pleased to announce that we have also entered into a strategic alliance with RRD, which will expand the offerings both companies provide to clients.” Mr. Crean continued, “We welcome the GDS team to Paragon and look forward to the value and expertise they will add to our full-service range of leading marketing, communications and technology solutions for our customers.”
Dan Knotts, RRD’s President and Chief Executive Officer stated, “The sale of GDS represents another key step in our strategic transformation. Through this transaction, we are further optimizing our business portfolio while remaining strongly positioned to provide end-to-end marketing and business communications solutions to our global clients. The strategic alliance we have established with Paragon, the European leader in communications solutions, enables us to offer an enhanced set of capabilities in the region.” Mr. Knotts continued, “I want to thank the GDS team for their tremendous support of RRD and wish them future success as they join the Paragon team.”
The purchase of GDS enriches the operational capabilities of Paragon in the sphere of customer communications and complements existing solutions enabling them to deliver unparalleled services for Paragon’s large multinational global customers with local support in Europe.
About Paragon Group
Paragon Group is the leading provider of Customer Communications, Identification and Graphics Services and has a total of more than $1.3 billion turnover (proforma) and more than 7,500 employees. Paragon Group combines generations of experience with the latest innovations in technology and smart data to enable responsive and meaningful interactions between organisations and their customers. For further information about Paragon Group, visit www.paragon-europe.com
About Paragon Customer Communications
Paragon Customer Communications goes to market through three key service lines: Customer Engagement Marketing; Transactional, Regulatory & BPO Services and Digital Customer Experience. The delivery of end-to-end customer communications is built on a strong base of digital technologies and on the best use of customer data. Paragon Customer Communications aims to provide brilliant customer communications to clients, helping them to connect with their customers and to transform their customer connections. For further information about Paragon Customer Communications, visit www.paragon-cc.co.uk
About RRD
RRD is a leading global provider of multichannel business communications services and marketing solutions. With more than 50,000 clients and 39,500 employees across 34 countries, RRD offers the industry’s most comprehensive offering of solutions designed to help companies—from Main Street to Wall Street—optimize customer engagement and streamline business operations across the complete customer journey. RRD offers a comprehensive portfolio of capabilities, experience and scale that enables organizations around the world to create, manage, deliver, and optimize their marketing and business communications strategies. For more information, visit the Company’s web site at www.rrd.com.
Use of Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and any such forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to the following cautionary statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on current expectations and involve a number of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Readers are strongly encouraged to read the full cautionary statements contained in RRD’s filings with the SEC. RRD disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.