- A big year for Transcontinental marked by the launch of the renowned Ad-Bag/Publi-Sac and Ad-Stand, products that revolutionize the flyer distribution business.
- Transcontinental enters the United States market with the acquisition of Miami Valley Publishing Company in Dayton, Ohio, and Trans-Continental Printing South in Orlando, Florida, both specialized in flyer printing.
- The Publishing Sector marks its first expansion outside Québec with the acquisition of The Hockey News newspaper.
1986 to 1995
1986
1987
- Transcontinental acquires Interglobe Printing (now Transcontinental Beauceville), a plant in Beauceville, Québec, printing magazines, educational textbooks and institutional documents.
- Transcontinental reaches the Pacific coast with the acquisition of Valleyweb Graphics in Langley, British Columbia, a flyer printing plant.
1988
- Launch of Éditions Transcontinental, the book publishing division.
- Transcontinental acquires PME magazine and Publications spécialisées en construction G.R., which will later become Groupe Constructo. It also buys a majority stake in Éditions du Feu Vert, which publishes Décormag and Le Bel Âge.
- Transcontinental receives the Mercure for Business of the Year, SMB, an annual award presented by the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec.
1989
- Transcontinental acquires two printing plants from Southam's Canadian Publishers, one in Calgary, Alberta and one in Winnipeg, Manitoba. These plants join a growing network of flyer printing plants. The two Calgary plants will later be merged to form today’s Transcontinental Calgary.
- Acquisition of a third printing plant in the United States: NCP Incorporated in Seattle, Washington.
- The Publishing Sector continues its expansion outside Québec with the launch of Good Times magazine, the English-language counterpart of Bel Âge. Both titles are published in partnership with the European publishing house Bayard Presse.
1990
- Transcontinental becomes the largest flyer printer in Canada, and the Québec leader in business and finance publishing and door-to-door distribution.
- With the acquisition of the printing company Noir Plus, in Montréal, Transcontinental moves into the commercial sheetfed printing market.
1992
- Transcontinental becomes Canada's largest commercial printer with the acquisition of Southam's commercial printing division, up to then the biggest transaction in the company's 16-year history. Four plants are thus added to the printing sector: RBW Graphics, in Owen Sound (now Transcontinental RBW Graphics), the two Litho-Prestige plants in Candiac and Drummondville, and Agency Press in Vancouver.
1993
- The company diversifies its operations again with the acquisition of a majority stake in Americ Disc, which will go on to become the world's biggest independent CD manufacturer. (Transcontinental divested its stake in 2001).
- Transcontinental continues its expansion into commercial printing with the acquisition of the two Litho Acme printing plants in Montréal and Québec City.
- Transcontinental adopts its first Environmental Policy based on three guiding principles: protect the environment for present and future generations, reduce risks and improve efficiencies, and introduce improved technology and processes.
1994
- Opening of the new Vancouver plant (now Transcontinental Vancouver) bringing together under one roof the assets of the Valleyweb Graphics plant and some assets from Agency Press.
1995
- Transcontinental accelerates the pace of acquisitions. The company becomes a player in the Québec local and regional newspaper market with the acquisition of 20 Telemedia weeklies published in the Greater Montréal area.
- Printing operations are enhanced with the acquisition of Yorkville Printing and the Bergman Graphics (now Transcontinental Premedia) prepress studio in Ontario, as well as Ross-Ellis Printing (now Transcontinental Ross-Ellis), Métropole Litho and Métrolitho in Québec.
