Cincinnati's largest commercial printing company, Miami Systems, agreed to be acquired by a unit of office supplier Staples Inc.
Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) will buy PRINTSouth Corp., which operates as Miami Systems. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Founded in 1926, Miami Systems is one of the nation's largest providers of transactional documents and related managed services. In the statement, Staples said Miami Systems has about $70 million in annual sales, which is down from about $120 million in 2008, according to Courier research. The company prints business forms, inserts, envelopes and labels.
Mike Cate, vice president and general manager of Staples Print Solutions, said his company competed with Miami Systems for a number of years. The two sides closed on the acquistion last Friday.
"This is a merger of two competitors that really enhances both organizations," he said.
The move gives Staples Advantage sales entry into the Midwest and its first manufacturing operations east of the Mississippi River. Cate said Staples will take on all of Miami Systems' roughly 250 employees located in offices across the country and at plants in Cincinnati; Tempe, Ariz.; Nashville, Tenn.; Atlanta; Richmond, Va.; and Green Cove Springs, Fla.
Over the next six months, Staples will transition the business from Miami Systems to the Staples Advantage name. As that change happens, Cate said he expects to see "explosive growth."
"We absolutely plan to grow this business, not only locally but nationally," he said. "The synergies that are created through the merger really give us a competitive footprint that is extremely formidable in the print business."
Cate also said that with the acquisition the Peters family that owned Miami Systems will exit the business.
“This creates a new market force with the combination of two great printing businesses, Staples Print Solutions and Miami Systems, that will greatly benefit our customers, create new opportunities for our long-standing associates and give us a nationwide footprint like no one else in the industry,” said Sam Peters, former chairman of PRINTSouth Corp. and president of Miami Systems.