April 20, 2009 (FinancialWire) — American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AM) has sold its retail store operations to Schurman Fine Papers, and has purchased the wholesale division of Schurman, which supplies Papyrus brand greeting cards primarily to specialty, mass, grocery and drug store channels.

Privately-held Schurman is a creator, distributor, and retailer of greeting cards and other social expressions products. The company operates card and gift retail stores under the name Papyrus.

Under the deal, American Greetings paid around $18 million dollars for the wholesale division of Schurman, while Schurman paid American Greetings around $6 million for its retail business. American Greetings also paid around $2 million for a 15% equity interest in Schurman.

As part of the deal, American Greetings will provide what it terms “limited credit support” to Schurman.

American Greetings said it will become responsible for service to accounts where Papyrus brand products are sold. The companies have entered into mutual transition services agreements in addition to ongoing commercial licensing, supply, and marketing agreements.

Cleveland-based American Greetings is a manufacturer and retailer of social expression products whose greeting card brands include American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings, and Papyrus.

It offers other paper products including DesignWare party goods, American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards and Date Works calendars. The company also sells electronic greetings products online.

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