Marian Heath, a leading greeting card publisher based in Wareham, Mass., has announced the acquisition of Life Publishing from Dicksons Inc., effective July 1. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Dicksons acquired Lawson Falle in January 2006, which diversified the company's product offering to include greeting cards and stationery products. Following the acquisition, Lawson Falle's name was changed to Life Publishing.

Dicksons President Jim Potts said the acquisition will be "a great advance" for the greeting card category. "We believe that Marian Heath's service team can take this company to a new level of performance for the Christian bookstore retailer," Potts said.

Rick Tocquigny, who will continue as president of Life Publishing, told Christian Retailing that the sale of the company will "allow for more rapid growth within a greeting card conglomerate. Our customers will get a broader selection of art, verse and focus on messaging with Scripture. ... Our industry needs more card variety and this acquisition will certainly make a difference."

Tocquigny added that Life Publishing's departure from Dicksons was "very amicable and the partnership will continue going forward where we can combine programs to benefit the trade. Our strong licensing programs will continue in partnership with Dicksons where applicable. We will be exhibiting with Dicksons at (the International Christian Retail Show) as planned."

He noted that Life Publishing began working with Marian Heath three years ago "to tap into their strong art. Over the last year, we teamed with their superior service team to revamp our largest greeting card departments across America. We found a natural synergy between our two companies that accelerated to a marriage."

Marian Heath will also acquire two other companies, Portal and Chatterbox, on July 1-catapulting the greeting card publisher among the top five card companies in North America, company officials said.

"We are well positioned to grow the greeting card category for the valued Christian bookstore retailers who are seeking to differentiate themselves with variety and value," Marian Heath CEO Aaron Kushner said.

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