CHICAGO, April 18 -- R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire The Astron Group, a leading provider of integrated, end-to-end document business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, in an all-cash deal, for approximately $990 million. The agreement is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close this summer. The Astron Group is a leading provider of transactional print and mail services, data and print management, document production and marketing support services to a blue-chip roster of clients, a number of which are shared with RR Donnelley. The Astron Group's expertise and position in the document-based business process outsourcing segment coupled with RR Donnelley's deep customer relationships with global corporations rapidly enhances RR Donnelley's ability to leverage relationships and sell across the platform. "We are pleased to deliver on our commitment to grow our document-based outsourcing business," said Mark A. Angelson, RR Donnelley's Chief Executive Officer. "The Astron Group broadens our diverse printing and service capabilities in Europe, provides us with a strong operations center in Asia, nearly doubles our size in this fast growing, high margin segment and creates an expanded opportunity to sell to existing and new clients. This transaction represents an excellent strategic fit and we expect that it will be slightly accretive to earnings in the first year." Angelson added, "These are exciting times at RR Donnelley. Our team has made great progress in integrating last year's acquisition of Moore Wallace and has delivered strong revenue and earnings performance. This acquisition represents another important step as we continue to augment our platform." "RR Donnelley is the perfect partner for The Astron Group," said David Mitchell, CEO of The Astron Group. "Combining RR Donnelley's global leadership with Astron's position in BPO provides our customers with an unparalleled offering. I expect our employees will benefit as well from increased opportunities as part of the premier global provider of document-related products and services."