Boca Raton, FL and Shelton, CT-based Baldwin supplies press accessory and control equipment systems for the newspaper printing industry as well as cleaning products, UV-curing Systems, water management, IR and hot air drying systems and other tools for commercial printers.

In an interview with PrintWeek, Baldwin CEO Mark Becker explained the company has been working aggressively to resize its global platform to reflect the changes in commercial printing.

"We still have a great brand and a great business future, but have been having difficulty refinancing our main credit facilities," he added. "By entering into this transaction we've eliminated the challenge of finding capital in a tight market.

"We'll be staying independent under this deal so there is no change to staffing or organization.

"There's no new debt. The capital structure of the company after the closing will be determined by the new owners, but it's not a high-leverage deal or anything like that."

Becker, who took over as Baldwin CEO in late 2010, added that part of that challenge is that many banks have a negative view of commercial printing these days - a view shared by the investment community. Baldwin stock traded as high as $1.78 a share last May, but dropped to 47 cents a share in late December.

As part of the deal, Forsyth - through a newly formed subsidiary Forsyth Baldwin LLC - has proposed to pay 96 cents a share for the company. That could change but as part of the agreement it won't drop below 90 cents a share.

Because it's a public traded company, Becker said Baldwin is legally obligated to consider competing bids through January 28, adding, "We feel that the offer being presented is a more than fair, but we're open to other offers."

He explained that for a small company, the overhead costs of being a public company, such as complying with all regulations, were fairly onerous.

Assuming it does not receive any competing bids, the deal with St. Louis-based Forsyth should close sometime this spring.

"We have reached out to all of our major global customers and pointed out this is a great move for Baldwin - it keeps us independent and they'll be working with the same team,"  Becker said. "The feedback that we've received so far has certainly been positive."

Baldwin reported a loss of $12.1m for its most recent full fiscal year, which ended June 30th, 2011, on revenues of $160m, compared to a profit of $3.5m in the previous fiscal year.