The top executives of American Color – who last week agreed to sell the debt-laden and money-losing company to a competitor – stand to collect more than $5 million in one-time payments for staying on a during a 90-day transition period after that deal closes.

Chairman and CEO Steve Dyott, CFO Pat Kellick and President Kathleen DeKam also will be paid their regular salaries and keep their car allowances and other benefits during the move later this year under the umbrella of Maryland-based Vertis Communications.

The payments – $2.8 million to Dyott and almost $1.2 million each to Kellick and DeKam – amount to 145 percent of their combined fiscal 2007 compensation. By comparison, Brentwood-based American Color lost $7.2 million during the third quarter of its fiscal 2008 – its eighth consecutive quarter of red ink.

To view the execs’ new employment agreements, click here.