Fort Dearborn Company has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NCL Graphic Specialties, Inc. The transaction is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions and is expected to close by the end of the year.

“As the largest cut & stack label supplier in North America, the acquisition of NCL would provide us additional capacity and would expand our footprint in the Midwest. The proposed acquisition would also enhance our product offering with promotional printing capabilities and enter us into the flexible packaging market,” says Fort Dearborn CEO Kevin Kwilinski. “With the anticipated addition of NCL, we’ll have an expanded breadth of products and services to better serve all of our customers”.

Richard Mueller, founder of NCL, had a vision for his company to be a “printer’s printer.” The company began with a tradition of innovation and with the help of CEO Steve Klopp and a talented team grew to become a recognized leader in the printing industry decades later.

Fort Dearborn supplies a complete range of label solutions including cut & stack, pressure sensitive, roll-fed, shrink and stretch sleeve labels, and equipment across multiple printing technologies including digital, lithographic, flexographic, and rotogravure. The company will now have additional facilities in Waukesha, WI and Menomonee Falls, WI for a total of seventeen production locations across North America. The company’s product offering will be expanded to include additional cut & stack label capacity, promotional printing and packaging services, and flexible packaging.

“On behalf of all our associates we look forward to working with the NCL team,” states Kwilinski. “As a leader in a very fragmented industry, we are poised for significant growth and will continue to pursue opportunities for consolidation that will deliver value to our customers.”