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Cimpress Announces $280 Million Acquisition

The Top 40 distributor is buying BuildASign, a web-based large-format printing provider.

Top 40 firm Cimpress (asi/162149), the parent company of Vistaprint and National Pen, announced Tuesday an agreement to buy Austin, TX-based BuildASign for approximately $280 million. Cimpress said the deal could be completed as early as the beginning of October.

Founded in 2005, BuildASign is a web-based provider of canvas-print wall décor, business signage and other large-format printed products. The company’s unaudited revenue for the twelve-month period ended Aug. 31, 2018 was approximately $129 million – 20% greater than the prior year.

According to terms of the deal, Cimpress will acquire approximately 99% of the outstanding equity interests of BuildASign from its current owners, including majority owner PWP Growth Equity, the middle market private equity group of Perella Weinberg Partners. The total valuation of approximately $280 million is subject to adjustments for the value of retained interest, net debt, working capital and transaction expenses. Cimpress plans to draw on its existing credit facility to pay cash at closing.

Robert Keane, CEO of Cimpress 

“We’re excited to welcome BuildASign to Cimpress,” Robert Keane, president and CEO of Cimpress, said in a statement. “They bring strong talent, a customer-centric culture, low-cost production operations and strong e-commerce capabilities that work seamlessly together to serve customers with market-leading prices, fast delivery and great customer service.”

Cimpress expects to realize some interesting synergies through the acquisition, including in the area of canvas print fulfillment operations involving Vistaprint and BuildASign. Additionally, BuildASign will complement the signage business of Cimpress’ other businesses due to their similar product lines, according to company executives.

Keane said that BuildASign will operate with great autonomy, utilizing Cimpress’ shared strategic capabilities to provide value to customers. “Cimpress will bring a long-term investment horizon, substantial procurement synergies and our mass customization platform (MCP) technology capabilities,” Keane said. “These added strengths will accelerate BuildASign’s already-fast growth in home décor and reinforce their market position with business signage.”

BuildASign sells to consumers through www.easycanvasprints.com and to businesses through sites such as www.buildasign.com.

Cimpress’ agreement to buy BuildASign comes less than a month after the Netherlands-headquartered distributor announced that it had acquired VIDA & Co.,  a retailer that specializes in producing apparel, accessories and home décor items on-demand. Cimpress paid $29 million in that deal. “We’re investing in VIDA because of its innovative and fast-moving approach to disrupting the large market for retail-grade consumer products via mass customization,” Keane said at the time. “VIDA pushes the boundaries of where Cimpress has historically operated, and thus opens the door for us to expand our mass customization efforts into new and different markets.” 

With estimated 2017 North American promotional products sales of $240 million, Cimpress ranked 6th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest distributors in the industry.