Legal Agents Beth Phelan and Kelly Van Sant and author Isabel Sterling received cease & desist letters from an attorney representing agent Dawn Frederick at Red Sofa Literary after speaking out about Frederick’s response to protestors in St. Paul. On May 28, Frederick posted on Twitter that she had called the police about an incident near her home (the tweet has since been deleted). Subsequently, three agents, including Van Sant resigned from Red Sofa. Phelan, Van Sant, and Sterling wrote in an open letter that Frederick “demanded that we delete our respective posts regarding Dawn’s actions and further, publish retractions […]
M&A
Briefs
Acquisitions Welbeck Publishing Group bought the assets of mind, body and spirit publisher Eddison Books for an undisclosed sum from The Fisher Company. Welbeck will continue working with Eddison’s authors on 2020 titles and publish its 2021 list under Welbeck’s imprints. Welbeck executive director Marcus Leaver said, “Mark and I have admired from afar the books and products that Eddison has made over the years. This deal gives us the opportunity to expand Welbeck’s publishing in a new category that complements our existing publishing.”
Walker/Candlewick Sold to Trustbridge Partners
Walker Books Group, whose divisions include Candlewick Press in the US, has been sold to China-based Trustbridge Global Media (a unit of private equity firm Trustbridge Partners). Walker had been the largest employee- and creator-owned publishing company. (The ownership had included more than 75 employees, and over 150 authors and illustrators.) In recent years, Trustbridge acquired Peachtree Publishers in Atlanta (2018) and Holiday House (2016), and they partnered with Chronicle Books for the Chronicle Bridge imprint in China (and France’s Bayard for a Bayard Bridge imprint). The deal closed on or about May 7 according to a UK Companies House […]
McGraw-Hill and Cengage Terminate Merger
McGraw-Hill and Cengage announced May 4 that they have mutually agreed to terminate their planned merger. McGraw-Hill said “the required divestitures would have made the merger uneconomical,” while Cengage cited “a prolonged regulatory review process and the inability to agree to a divestitures package with the US Department of Justice.” Under the terms of the merger agreement, which the companies have repeatedly called a “merger of equals,” neither company will pay a termination fee. Both the DOJ and the UK’s Competition Markets Authority said the companies would have to divest certain courses where they were the chief competitors before approval. […]
Bertelsmann Completes Acquisition of Pearson’s Final 25% Stake In Penguin Random House
As of April 1, Bertelsmann finalized their purchase of Pearson’s remaining 25 percent share of the Penguin Random House joint venture, for $675 million. (As a reminder, the enterprise value of that minority stake, including PRH’s debt, is $917.5 million.) Having paused a share buyback program that aimed to return some of that money to shareholders after spending £167 million, Pearson now says it “will retain the proceeds from the disposal…to further strengthen our short-term financial position” during the current crisis. Pearson previously held two seats on the PRH board, which are likely to be placed or retired. For now, […]
HarperCollins to Acquire Egmont Books UK, Egmont’s Book Business in Poland, and Schneiderbuch Germany
HarperCollins will acquire Egmont Books UK, as well as Egmont’s book business in Poland and Schneiderbuch in Germany, in a deal that is set to close on April 30. (Those units are run out of Egmont Publishing, which also operates the company’s magazines, rather than the Egmont Books division, which focuses on Cappelen Damm in Norway and Lindhardt & Ringhof in Denmark.) (May 1, 2020 update: Harper UK has completed the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum.) Egmont Books UK will operate as a standalone children’s division, and will remain in its offices for now. Egmont UK managing director Cally Poplak […]