Dec 20, 2006 -- Bowne & Co., Inc., a leader in financial, marketing and business communications services, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire St Ives Financial, the financial print division of St Ives plc, a worldwide printing and media group. St Ives is retaining its annual report printing business. The terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in early 2007, were not disclosed. St Ives Financial's operations in New York, Philadelphia, London, Tokyo and Luxembourg will join Bowne's existing network of 60 worldwide facilities. Through a strategic alliance with St Ives plc, Bowne will have exclusive access to St Ives' print capabilities throughout the United Kingdom. "We're pleased to bring St Ives Financial into the Bowne organization," said David J. Shea, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Bowne. "We've said for some time that we would look at synergistic acquisitions that will help grow our core business. This acquisition will strengthen our leadership position in our core financial communications business and, at the same time, broaden our position with investment management clients and with corporate filers in the UK." William P. Penders, president of Bowne Financial Communications, added, "This is a natural fit, from both a business and cultural perspective. In addition to the obvious synergies created by combining two of the world's leading financial communications organizations, we believe our clients will benefit as we continue to develop innovative technologies and products, such as our FundAlign™ product for investment management firms and St Ives' smartproducts™ suite of services." "We are excited to be joining Bowne," said Andrew Langdale, president of St Ives Financial. "Like St Ives, Bowne has a long history and well-established reputation in the industry. Both organizations have made significant investments in new technology over recent years -- investments that, when combined, will open the door to the next generation of financial communications services for all of our clients around the world." The oldest publicly traded company in the United States, Bowne was established in 1775 as a stationery shop located in what is now New York's financial district. St Ives Financial traces its roots to a London print shop founded in 1628 under the name Stephens & Meredith, changing its name to Burrup, Mathieson in 1897, and to St Ives Financial in 2005. The relationship between Bowne and St Ives Financial dates back to the 1980s, when Bowne worked with Burrups, its first overseas affiliate, to establish a presence in the UK.