P. M. BRIEFING : Meredith to Sell Printing Arm

Meredith Corp. is selling its Meredith-Burda printing business to R. R. Donnelley & Sons in a deal valued at about $570 million, it was announced today.

Meredith, a Fortune 500 company, publishes Better Homes and Gardens and other magazines and has interests in broadcasting and real estate. It owns Meredith-Burda in partnership with the Burda family of West Germany.

“It’s a continuation of a trend that’s been going on for some time. The industry is consolidating,” said Robert A. Dunlap, who follows Donnelley for the New York Securities firm of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Donnelley, based in Chicago, accounts for about 6% of the $50-billion U.S. printing market. It prints and binds many national publications, including Time, Newsweek, TV Guide and Business Week. It also prints telephone books, encyclopedias and school and religious books.

Donnelley said it will pay $487.5 million in cash, to be divided between Meredith, and Franz and Frieder Burda. Dunlap said Donnelley also will assume $80 million in Meredith-Burda debt.