Quebecor World offloads five of its US plants

Quebecor World counts as one of the major players in US graphic arts, with annual sales of over $5 billion across its coast-to-coast network of more than 75 sites and global revenues of $8.8 billion in 2004. The news of the latest sell-off comes only two weeks after Quebecor sold six of its sites in another MBO across its home base in Canada.

The MBO team, the Matlet Group, will boast annual revenues of over $314 million with more than 600 employees, with facilities specialising in commercial printing, packaging, fulfilment and pre-media services. The group was formed by Gary Stiffler, former exec at Quebecor World, along with two private investors.

“This acquisition represents an exciting opportunity that will restore local ownership to these commercial printing facilities,” says Stiffler. “Each plant's management group will be familiar to customers and suppliers who have done business with these locations throughout the years.”

“We understand and will focus on the two primary success factors in this business: capital investment in the latest technology and highly skilled and motivated employees,” says Stiffler.

Hugues Simard, VP of development and planning at Quebecor World, claims his company is pleased on the completion of this transaction

“Gary and his management team bring a vast amount of knowledge and experience with them to this new endeavour and we wish them all the best,” says Simard.