M. Lee Smith sells company to hand-picked successor.

Dow Oswald, who has served as president and associate publisher of M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC (Nashville, TN) since November 2003, has acquired the newsletter and printing company from founder M. Lee Smith. No terms of the deal were given. Financing was supplied by Fifth Bank Group (Chicago, IL) and Prairie Capital (Chicago, IL).

Oswald was offered an option to purchase the company in 2003 as part of the contract that brought him to M. Lee Smith from Lawrence Ragan Communications (Chicago, IL). Smith said a major benefit of the deal "is that all of the company's 130 employees will continue their current duties, in the same location. I am most glad that no employees will lose their job as a result of this acquisition."

In total, M. Lee Smith produces more than 80 newsletters and other information products for human resource professionals, business executives and attorneys, including such titles as Federal Employment Law Insider, HR Insight, state-specific employment law newsletters for all 50 states, environmental law letters such as California Environmental Insider and Georgia Environmental Law Letter, and titles for workers' compensation administrators, including Florida Workers' Comp Reporter and Texas Workers' Comp Reporter.

The company also publishes directories and supplies printing and mailing services for other newsletter publishers, including Harvard Business School Publishing, HCPro and American Lawyer Media, now ALM.