Elliott Advisors, the UK branch of Paul Singer’s hedge fund Elliott Management, has been given “a short period of exclusivity within which to conclude negotiations” to purchase UK bookselling chain Waterstones, Sky News reported, citing a single source. The report has a measure of credibility since, as we have been writing all along, “one insider suggested it was likely to be much lower than the £250 million that a newspaper report said Mr. Mamut was seeking last autumn.” Reportedly, there are more private equity firms lined up negotiate if Elliott Management does not conclude a deal.
M&A
Penguin Random House Buys Rodale Books
Penguin Random House announced Tuesday it has purchased the trade-book publishing assets of Rodale Books from Hearst — the new owners of Rodale — and will “take over the publication of its frontlist and backlist titles effective immediately.” Longtime distributor for Rodale Books Macmillan will continue to sell and distribute the titles for the time being. PRH spokesperson Claire von Schilling tells us, “It is the expectation that we will transition to PRH platforms in the first half of the year, on a timeline that ensures that we can take care of the authors and the books as seamlessly as […]
2017: The Year In Agency Mergers and Moves
Supplementing yesterday’s The Year In Mergers, Acquisitions and Finance, this year saw a number of literary agency mergers — along with some significant movement by well-known agents, and even a few marquee authors. So here is a round-up. Many of the year’s notable mergers and acquisitions among literary agencies, as well as new agency launches, happened in the UK: [Acquirer/Seller or merged properties] Curtis Brown UK > Ed Victor Ltd (Following the death of Ed Victor in June) Later in the year, Charlie Brotherstone, who had been at Ed Victor Ltd., opened his own agency, Brotherstone Creative Management. And the Raymond […]
2017: The Year In Mergers, Acquisitions and Finance
Anyone who thinks it was a quiet year for publishing mergers, acquisitions and finance doesn’t understand what happened very well. It was in fact both an active and fascinating year. First and foremost, 2017 saw one of the biggest trade publishing deals ever. We’re talking about the transaction hiding in plain sight, in which Bertelsmann acquired an additional 22 percent of Penguin Random House from Pearson, for actual cash. Remember that when Random House and Penguin merged in July 2013, it was a mammoth “deal” in that it created the world’s largest trade publishing company, but no money actually changed […]