Paragon Acquires RRD’s European Global Document Solutions (GDS)

PARAGON GROUP ACQUIRES RRD’S UK-BASED GLOBAL DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS BUSINESS

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.