Cardinal Brands Inc., a Lawrence-based company that produces business forms and other business products elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad, is being sold for $130 million to R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., the companies announced Tuesday.

Cardinal Brands’ products – which include Adams business forms, Globe-Weis document organizers, Cardinal ring binders and Generations hobby products – will “tuck neatly” into R.R. Donnelley’s branded-products operations, said John Paloian, R.R. Donnelley’s chief operating officer.

“And our global manufacturing capabilities are ideal to support growth opportunities afforded by this combination,” he said in a statement.

Company officials did not address future intentions for Cardinal Brands’ employees nor the company’s offices, distribution or manufacturing centers, which include operations in St. Louis; Georgetown, Ky.; Fresno, Calif.; three sites in Mexico; one site in Canada; and one in England.

Cardinal Brands had about 50 employees working this summer at the company’s Lawrence headquarters, 643 Mass., as Cardinal was announcing the closure of its last remaining operations in Topeka. Cardinal is owned by company managers and Westgate Group, a St. Louis-based private equity firm.

Cardinal Brands was formed seven years ago with the merger of Topeka-based Adams Business Forms and Eagle OPG Inc., of St. Louis. Leading the way on that merger was Joe Bauman, a former IBM executive and former dean of Kansas University’s business school, who retired in 2005 as Cardinal Brands’ chairman and chief executive officer.

With the deal announced Tuesday, Cardinal Brands would become part of Chicago-based R.R. Donnelley, a public company with about 53,000 employees who handle commercial printing, direct mail services, data management operations and, perhaps most applicable to Cardinal’s offerings, production of labels, forms and other such products.

“This transaction brings together two leading, well-respected organizations that will be well equipped to serve customer demands for enhanced services, promotions, innovation and more,” said Rodney Olson, president and chief executive officer of Cardinal Brands. “Together, they will be able to offer a broad array of forms, along with a wide-ranging assortment of other business and consumer products.”

The companies expect the all-cash sale to close by the end of the year, pending appropriate regulatory approvals.

R.R. Donnelley previously owned a direct-mail printing plant in Eudora, which had about 150 employees when the company purchased it in 1999. The plant closed in 2000.

Shares of R.R. Donnelley closed Tuesday at $37.86, down 16 cents on the New York Stock Exchange; news of the sale was released after markets closed.