News

RR Donnelley has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise on a possible sale of its UK business process outsourcing arm Global Document Solutions (GDS), according to sources.

The revelation comes three years after RR Donnelley paid $990m (then £520m) for Astron, later re-branded GDS, and a month after a $460m write-down of goodwill in its international BPO units.

The US print giant reportedly started exploring the sale following the fourth-quarter ‘impairment of goodwill’ in its overseas BPO operations, which include GDS and Office Tiger.

RR Donnelley declined to comment. However, president and chief executive Thomas Quinlan has previously admitted that the performance of the group’s BPO unit had been disappointing.

Rival UK print management companies Williams Lea, Communisis and TPF Group have all been touted as possible suitors for GDS.

Communisis is understood to have ruled itself out, while Williams Lea could not be reached for comment as PrintWeek went to press.

A source at TPF, however, said: “We remain very much in long-term growth mode. However, I can’t comment on individual target businesses.”