Communications and publishing house RR Donnelley & Sons Co. will split into three separate companies—including a fulfillment and logistics division—by the end of 2016, the Chicago-based company said yesterday.

Each unit will be an independent, publicly traded company, including the new logistics business focused on sustainable packaging, product customization, and regulatory compliance. A second company will focus on financial communications and data services, while the third operates in publishing and retail-centric print services.

The largest of the three new units will be the $7-billion-a-year Customized Multichannel Communications Management Company (CMCo), which helps companies create, manage, and execute their communications plans. As part of its portfolio, CMCo will offer supply chain management, logistics, and packaging, kitting, and fulfillment, as well as direct mail, short-run commercial printing, statements, business process outsourcing, creative design, content management, forms, and labels.

"We see a significant opportunity to unlock value by allowing these three businesses to pursue their own strategies and invest according to the unique dynamics of their respective industries," RR Donnelley President and CEO Thomas J. Quinlan III said in a statement. Second in size will be the $3.5-billion Publishing and Retail-Centric Print Services Company (PRSCo), designed to help publishers, merchandisers, and retailers prepare, produce and distribute their periodicals, catalogs, inserts, books, office products, and directories.

The third group will be a $1-billion Financial Communications Services Company (FinancialCo)—including the Edgar Online financial-statement wire service—that serves the global investment and capital markets with data management and analytics, collaborative workflow and business reporting tools, and translation services.

"We recognize that parts of the current portfolio will be more successful pursuing different strategies, and that these particular businesses offer the scale, expertise, product and service mix, and other resources to excel as standalone companies," Quinlan said.