Edwards Brothers and Malloy Merge to Form Nation's Sixth Largest Book Maker

Ann Arbor, MI (February 6, 2012)—Edwards Brothers, Inc. and Malloy Incorporated, two leading book manufacturers, announced today that they would merge effective February 6, 2012, forming a new company called Edwards Brothers Malloy. The new company will have combined sales of $115 million and will be the sixth largest book manufacturing firm in the United States, offering publishers a global distributed print program and fulfillment services that combine to form a single print supply chain solution.

Edwards Brothers Malloy will have three offset facilities—Edwards Brothers’ plants in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Lillington, North Carolina and Malloy’s operation in Ann Arbor—along with eleven digital print plants in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. With Edwards Brothers’ gps Global Print Solutions distributed print partnership, publishers will be able to print and distribute books with one order, one file, and one invoice around the world.

John Edwards, President and CEO of Edwards Brothers, says the merger brings two strong family-owned businesses together with over 170 years of book making experience between them. “I’ve known the Uptons my whole life, and I’ve always respected Malloy as a competitor. They have a great reputation for service and a very strong financial foundation. I’ve been amazed as we put this merger together how similar our companies are. We share a strong commitment to our employees, our customers, and the craft of book making.” Edwards also noted the fact that Malloy has roots in EB. Jim Malloy, who founded Malloy in 1960, was production manager at EB in the 1940s. As Edwards puts it, “In a sense, we’re being reunited.”

Edwards will be the CEO of Edwards Brothers Malloy. Bill Upton, President of Malloy, will become the Vice President of Operations for the new unified company, and Joe Upton, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Malloy will take over that same role with Edwards Brothers Malloy. Bill Upton believes the merger will result in additional business and jobs flowing into the current Malloy facility and is excited about the expanded services the new company will be able to offer to Malloy’s current customers: “We can’t wait to introduce the Edwards Brothers global digital printing platform to our customers. Our customers can now turn to us for print-on-demand (POD) service and use gps Global Print Solutions to print closer to their international customers. Edwards Brothers Malloy combines two book manufacturers into one print supply chain solution.”