Kinko’s Ends Steps Toward Expansion

Kinko’s Inc. said Thursday that it has completed two major steps toward moving the Ventura-based company further into the global market and, according to analysts, eventually making a public offering.

The photocopying company said it has completed the previously announced consolidation of its 850 locations into one corporate entity, and finalized a $214-million investment from a New York leveraged-buyout firm.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc., which bought computer-printer maker Lexmark Holding Inc. from IBM in 1991 and sold part of it to the public in 1995, said it has invested in Kinko’s to take the company to the “next stage.”

“Most Kinko people have worked in a smaller entrepreneurial environment,” said Donald Gogel, co-president of CD&R.; “We’re helping them think big, very big.”

Kinko’s “preferred strategy” is to go public, but it is too soon to say when that might happen, company spokeswoman Laura McCormick said.

“What they’re trying to do is restructure the company prior to going public,” said Bob Hall, executive editor of Quick Printing magazine. “It’s a financial situation preparing for a public offering.”

Stuart Blake, vice president and general counsel at Kinko’s said the consolidation was necessary for “moving forward.”

“We see CD&R; bringing in a vast level of experience from the business world that will combine with our entrepreneurial expertise to create a strong organization that continues to change and bring in ideas,” Blake said. “It adds management discipline and expertise that we haven’t had in the past.”