DES PLAINES, Ill., Dec. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SGK,
formerly marketed as Schawk, Inc., a leading global brand
development, activation and deployment provider that drives brand
performance, announced today that it has closed on a transaction
that creates a strategic private equity partnership with
California-based private equity
firm, Diversis.
The terms of the transaction make Diversis, the majority owner
of BLUE, SGK's enterprise-level software-as-a-service (SaaS)
platform and SGK, a partner with a minority interest. The minority
interest ensures that SGK will have an active voice in the future
development of the product.
BLUE operates within the marketing eco-system to help global
CPG, Retail and Life Sciences companies accelerate brand
performance by delivering visibility, transparency and insight into
the business processes that drive the execution and management of
brands efficiently across media worldwide. BLUE enables brand
owners in highly regulated industries to adhere and adapt to FDA,
EMEA and other government regulations regarding audits, system
validations, audit trails, electronic signatures and
documentation.
David Schawk, president SGK,
Division of Matthews International Corporation said, "I am
confident that our strategic partnership with Diversis will deliver
greater value to those of our clients who use BLUE to accelerate
the performance of their brands. This partnership will allow SGK to
focus on its core capabilities while drawing on new resources that
are focused exclusively on technology to elevate our client's
experience with BLUE."
Scott Strong, former senior vice
president, global managing director, Schawk Digital Solutions, part
of of SGK and now chief executive officer of Blue Software
Holdings, "I am excited to lead BLUE into the future as part of
Blue Software, a new independent software company." Added Strong,
"Our singular focus is BLUE and we are committed to accelerating
the development of the product on an ongoing basis. We look forward
to the opportunity to provide even greater value to SGK's current
clients and to continue leveraging the insights of SGK business
leaders into the ever evolving workflow needs of global
corporations."
Stephen Kaufman, chief technology
officer, SGK, and the original creator of the product that evolved
into BLUE said, "All successful ventures undergo evolutions and I
see Diversis' interest in BLUE as strong validation of Schawk's
15-year strategy to provide a complete graphic lifecycle platform
as a free standing offering. The new partnership will nourish and
extend the platform as a gold standard for packaging supply chain
and brand process optimization."
SGK is a leading global brand development,
activation and deployment provider that drives brand performance.
By creating brands, helping sell brands, producing brand assets and
protecting brand equities, we help our clients achieve higher brand
performance. SGK's global footprint spans more than 20 countries.
SGK was formerly marketed as Schawk, Inc. and is part of Matthews
International Corporation. For more information visit:
http://www.sgkinc.com.
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SOURCE SGK