Commemorative paraphernalia seller Jostens agreed to buy rival American Achievement Group. The financial value of the deal was not disclosed. However, a person familiar with the situation said the transaction was worth USD500 million. The said unnamed source was cited in a report published by The New York Times.

American Achievement Group is a company that sells letter jackets, class rings, yearbooks, recognition products, and other commemorative paraphernalia. The firm is owned by private equity group Fenway Partners, the report said.

Minneapolis-based Jostens is also owned by private equity firms. The company is a subsidiary of Visant Corporation, said the report.

The acquisition deal is expected to be finalized before the middle of 2014. That is about the time of high school and college graduation, the report noted.

Visant and Jostens sought legal counsel from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. American Achievement and Fenway sought legal advice from Ropes & Gray and Wilmer Hale. Goldman Sachs was the financial adviser of American Achievement, The New York Times reported.