Lakeside Book Company has acquired Bradford & Bigelow, a printer specializing in books for K-12, higher education, and trade publishing. B&B will operate as a division of Lakeside Book, with its Newburyport, Massachusetts and Newton, New Hampshire manufacturing and fulfillment facilities continuing to operate with their current teams and management. Lakeside writes in a release, “Existing customers at B&B will benefit from access to increased print, store, and sell options with one partner operating across North America through Lakeside Book’s platform. Through the Lakeside Book PAKSmart offering, B&B customers will also gain access to international manufacturing solutions, custom packaging, kitting, […]
Finance
Italian Company Buys Two Big British Printers
Italy’s GV Group has acquired British book printers CPI Books and CPI Antony Rowe, in a deal that comes close to doubling GV Group’s size. Together CPI Books and CPI Antony Rowe have annual sales of £127 million, producing over 100 million books a year. GV Group also owns Lake Book Manufacturing in the Chicago area and PA Hutchison Company in Pennsylvania in the US, along with Grafica Veneta in Trebaseleghe, Italy. Chair of parent company SoFiGraf Fabio Franceschi says, “The trust of Italian publishers has enabled us to grow. Today, we are making a wider network available to all […]
Taylor & Francis to be “Separated” From Informa, Likely Sold
Informa is purchasing Clarion Events, a business-to-business live events company with an enterprise value of £2.24 billion pounds, or $2.96 billion. That significant investment leaves slow growing academic publisher Taylor & Francis out of place with the rest of the group, and the company said last week, “We have launched a separation process, reviewing all options that will best support the future growth and development of the business. The outcomes of this review will be reported alongside the group’s 2026 full year results in March 2027.” A sale, in whole or piecemeal, to competitors Elsevier, Springer Nature and/or Wiley is […]
Acquisitions: Personalized Story Group Acquires Hooray Heroes
Personalized Story Group has acquired Slovenia-based personalized book publisher Hooray Heroes. The company writes in a release, “The acquisition significantly expands the group’s creative catalogue, international customer base and capabilities in multi-character and family-focused product personalization.” Deal terms were not disclosed. Brendon Watson, CEO of Personalized Story Group, said, “Hooray Heroes has built an outstanding publishing brand with a loyal global audience and a catalogue that has helped millions of families see themselves represented in the stories they share. Its strength in family-focused and multi-character storytelling is highly complementary to the books we have developed through Story Bug and My […]
Acquisitions: Publications International; Firebrand Group
Gemini Books Group has acquired the assets of Publications International. Publications International (PIL) executive Jeff Coyle will become president, Gemini North America, and COO of Gemini, bringing the PIL senior team with him. Tara Catogge joins as chief commercial officer, responsible for global sales and marketing. Jim Bashour joins as svp, information systems. Founder, publisher, and CEO of Gemini Marcus Leaver said in a release, “I have long admired what Lou Weber has built at PIL, one of North America’s leading consumer publishers: a company with deep roots in family-focused, value-driven publishing and a remarkable record of success across cookbooks, children’s […]
Acquisitions: Cottage Door Press; Smith Street Books; C&T Publishing
Scholastic will acquire early childhood publisher Cottage Door Press for $71 million with the transaction closing at the end of 2026. Cottage Door will be integrated into Scholastic’s Children’s Book Group and will continue with its existing publishing team. Luna StoryTime products, Cottage Door’s line of interactive electronic toys will be spun off prior to closing and will not be part of the acquisition. Cottage Door Press had approximately $45 million in net revenue for the twelve months ending May 31 and was “strongly profitable.’ Scholastic expects the acquisition to be ‘accretive in its second year following close, including anticipated […]