Sunshine Custom Publishing and True North Custom Publishing Announce Agreement to Merge
Monday, 21 May 2007
Sunshine Holdings Corporation, an H.I.G. Capital portfolio company, today announced the merger of its Sunshine Custom Publishing, Inc. division with True North Custom Publishing LLC of Chattanooga, TN. This transaction will unite two fast-growth organizations, expanding the combined company’s presence as America’s largest custom health care publishing company.
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc., a New York City based investment bank that specializes in the media and information industries, represented True North in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.
True North is a health care custom publishing firm specializing in customized magazines, newsletters and web content for local hospital clients and regional/national health care systems. True North launched as a marketing group in 1988 and moved to high quality custom publishing exclusively in 1998. Through its patented TrueCustom process and quality custom publishing solutions, the company currently serves over 135 health care organizations and publishes over 500 issues per year bringing engagement, relevance and accountability to its customers’ marketing efforts.
Established in 1982, Sunshine Holdings Corporation annually publishes over 1,000 unique local magazine editions for brands such as M.D. News, Doctor Dentistry, Builder/Architect and Real Estate Executive magazines, and over 1,000 discrete reprint marketing programs within its network of seven publication titles and over 180 local market publishers. The company’s divisional operations will include Sunshine Media, Inc. in Scottsdale, AZ, Sunshine Media Printing, Inc. in Tucson, AZ, and True North Custom Publishing, Inc. in Chattanooga, TN.
The merger will combine each company’s strengths, resources and expertise to uniquely meet the rapidly evolving needs of existing and prospective custom publishing customers. The arrangement will provide customers with an array of marketing and communication solutions, with a very deep commitment to the health care sector. More customers will have the opportunity to build dynamic brand visibility through specific strategies including custom publishing and compelling content.
Jim Martin is the president and CEO of Sunshine Holdings Corporation, and David McDonald will continue as president and CEO of True North Custom Publishing.
McDonald will be joined in divisional leadership by Ann Farmer, currently chief operating officer of True North, and by Jason Provonsha, currently vice president of business development of True North.
“We are creating a powerful new force in the industry with the business scale, high quality products, customer focus and technology investments to offer the very best in custom publishing services to our customers,” said Martin. “Our immediate priority is on the rapid, seamless integration of our two companies in a way that best serves our customers, presents new growth opportunities for our employees and continues to build on our successful custom publishing business platform.”
“This merger makes absolute sense for our employees and our customers. It marks an unparalleled opportunity for two successful, customer-driven organizations to unify with a singular focus on being the leading custom publishing company in the country,” said McDonald. “Together, we truly improve the quality, experience and efficiency of custom publishing on a much broader scale, and our health care and other customers will benefit from new products and services we will roll out to them.”
Charles Hanemann, managing director, H.I.G. Capital, said, “This is a defining moment, and the merger will signify a real milestone in the custom publishing industry. Both companies are passionate about what they do, and they have truly made an impact on the health care market. Given the alignment of their customer centric visions, world class production and printing technologies, and overall growth strategies, the synergy of these two companies will advance the competitive presence of the company and expand its focus on vertical integration, benefiting current and future customers.”
Together, this strategic move will create a stronger national footprint for organizational growth, effectively providing broad opportunities across an extensive customer base including customized marketing solutions and world-class delivery, service and support.