GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. – Blackford Capital is excited to announce the acquisition of Kingsport Book. Kingsport Book is the second company in the book printing industry to be acquired by Printing Consolidation Company—a Blackford Capital portfolio company—which also owns Dickinson.  

Kingsport Book has developed a strong reputation as a high-end book finishing and fulfillment company, located in Church Hill, Tennessee. In their 120,000-sq. ft. facility, they have developed an equipment platform that can flexibly service deluxe, trade, and soft cover books at quantities ranging from one to a 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 customers base,” said Aaron Day, CEO of Printing Consolidation Company (PCC) and Dickinson. “Kingsport Book has built a reputation over the last 13 years as the industry leader in deluxe book production and we could not be happier to add them to our family,” said Steve Parker, Chairman of the PCC.

Fred Cooper, CEO of Kingsport Book, and CFO Rick Jennings will stay on to lead operations at Kingsport Book. PCC plans to expand the capabilities of this operation and continue to drive innovation in the book industry. “I am thrilled to expand, and formalize, the longstanding relationship between Dickinson and Kingsport. I know our clients will benefit more now that we have a fully integrated company that plans to continue to grow and add new solutions,” said Cooper. “I am very excited to share with our clients and prospects our vertically integrated services created from the combination of two great companies and the new equipment we are installing,” said Jennings. 

“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. It is hard to find a group of employees more dedicated to servicing the deluxe book market than the team at Kingsport Book,” said James Cook, Associate at Blackford Capital. 

As a compliment to their full-service suite of deluxe book finishing, Kingsport Book has also developed a fulfillment and distribution division that has been rapidly growing in recent years, and has the ability to expand significantly with this acquisition. As demand increases for same day and next day delivery, Kingsport Book is strategically located nearby major hubs for FedEx and UPS that will enable them to provide timely distribution.