Hachette Book Group and Workman Publishing officially announced Monday “a binding commitment” for HBG to acquire Workman (as we had hinted recently). The transaction is expected to close after the standard 35-day regulatory review period. Workman comprises six imprints: Workman, Algonquin, Algonquin Young Readers, Artisan, Storey Publishing, and Timber Press, and has a small group of distribution clients. HBG will pay $240 million, a 1.8 multiple over Workman’s sales of $134 million in 2020 — when they were up 12 percent over 2019, so about $120 million the year before. That is about the same multiple of sales that HarperCollins […]
M&A
FTC Makes Second Request In Review of ProQuest Sale to Clarivate
On July 28 the Federal Trade Commission made a second request for information in their review of Clarivate’s pending $5.3 billion acquisition of ProQuest. Clarivate announced that as a result, the parties extended the outside date for completion of the deal to December 31. Both Clarivate and ProQuest “each have the option to extend the new outside date to April 29, 2022.” As we noted previously, second requests are generally issued for only 2 to 4 percent of Hart-Scott-Rodino transactions — and as law firm Winston & Strawn advised, “most Second Requests result in a settlement, litigation to block the transaction, or […]
Acquisitions: Canelo Acquires Hera Books
UK-based Canelo has acquired Hera Books and will operate it as a subsidiary. Canelo previously provided publishing support and services to Hera. As a result, co-founder and managing director Lindsey Mooney will leave Hera. Canelo md Iain Millar will become Hera’s md, and Keshini Naidoo will stay on as publishing director. In a release, Millar said, “We were thrilled to work with this fantastic team as it launched and then took off. This next phase should mean both Hera and Canelo have even more impact.” Keshini Naidoo noted, “Building Hera alongside one of my oldest friends has been one of […]
Arcadia Acquires Commonwealth
Local history book publisher Arcadia Publishing has acquired Commonwealth Editions from Applewood Books; the terms of the deal were undisclosed. Applewood will continue to handle sales and distribution for Commonwealth titles “for the foreseeable future.”
Hello Sunshine Announces Big Sale
Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine will be purchased by a new firm financed by private-equity company Blackstone. The terms of the deal weren’t announced, but a source told the WSJ the deal values Hello Sunshine at $900 million, with Blackstone spending over $500 million to buy out Hello Sunshine’s outside investors, including AT&T and Emerson Collective. Witherspoon and some the company’s executives and investors “will roll over the remaining equity into ownership stakes in the new company Blackstone is forming.” Former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs will run the new entertainment company that is purchasing Hello Sunshine, […]
Another Possible Sale or IPO Based On Your Content
It’s been a heady year for M&A among internet platforms that feature written and book-length content, including sales of Wattpad (to Naver, for about $600 million); VitalSource (to Francisco Partners); NetGalley and Quality Solutions/Firebrand (to Media Do International); Glose (to Medium); Radish (to Kakao Entertainment for $440 million); Tapas Media (to Kakao Entertainment for $510 million); and Epic (to Byju for $500 million) — as well as the giant sale of ProQuest to Clarivate for $5.3 billion. Another possible deal looms for document host and subscription service Scribd, as reported by Bloomberg recently. They note: “The company has held talks […]