Blackford Capital Acquires Tennessee-based Kingsport Book

1639

Grand Rapids-based private equity firm Blackford Capital today announced the acquisition of Kingsport Book, a Church Hill, Tenn.-based book publisher. Kingsport Book is the second company in the book publishing industry acquired by Printing Consolidation Co. (PCC), a Blackford Capital portfolio company, which also owns Dickinson.

Kingsport Book is a high-end book finishing and fulfillment company and has developed an equipment platform that can flexibly service deluxe, trade, and soft cover books at quantities ranging from one to one million.

“The addition of Kingsport Book is in direct response to the needs of our customers. The ability to manufacture deluxe books domestically with very short turn times, is one of the core requests we have heard from our customer base,” says Aaron Day, CEO of PCC and Dickinson.

As a compliment to their full-service suite of book finishing, Kingsport book also developed a fulfillment and distribution division that has been growing the past several years and can expand significantly following the acquisition. As demand for same-day and next-day delivery increases, Kingsport Book is strategically located near major hubs for FedEx and UPS that will enable timely distribution.

“As we continue to grow PCC, we are focused on the companies that have industry leading talent and are dedicated to exceeding the needs of their customers,” says James Cook, associate at Blackford Capital. “It is hard to find a group of employees more dedicated to servicing the deluxe book market than the team at Kingsport Book.”

Blackford Capital manages and builds family-owned lower middle market manufacturing, distribution, and service companies. The company currently has 11 portfolio companies nationwide.