MONTREAL—Transcontinental announced today that it will be closing two plants and "integrating" five other facilities in the wake of acquiring Quad/Graphics Canada.

Transcontinental recently acquired the assets of Quad/Graphics, which included six plants [Aurora, Concord, and Markham in Ontario; Lasalle and Montreal in Quebec; Edmonton in Alberta and Dartmouth in Nova Scotia] and one premedia facility in Markham.

The company said it plans to shut down its Dartmouth Quad/Graphics plant on April 20 of this year, and the Rivière-des-Prairies Quad/Graphics plant [in Montreal] "on or about" June 30, 2012. The four remaining plants will be "integrated into the Transcontinental network in order to maximize the use of each piece of equipment across our entire print network."

The Quad/Graphics Toronto Que-Net Media premedia centre in Markham will also be integrated with the Transcontinental premedia centre and will move to Mississauga, Ontario, added Transcontinental.

The printing giant noted over the coming months, around 500 of the 6,900 employees currently working at 33 printing plants will be affected by the integration.

"Naturally, many scenarios were examined by the integration committee in order to keep as many employees as possible, but given the low utilization rate of the equipment in the newly acquired network, strategic decisions had to be made," said the company.

Employees who leave Transcontinental will receive separation packages and out-placement services to help find new employment, added Transcontinental.

Stay tuned for more on this story.