After receiving a buyout offer from majority shareholders Trilogy Retail Holdings and Trilogy Investments in February, the board of Indigo Books & Music unanimously agreed to the sale at a slightly increased price, the company reports. Trilogy currently owns approximately 60.6 percent of shares, and will acquire the remaining at $2.50 (CA) in cash per share. At the beginning of February, Trilogy had offered $2.25 a share. The price gives Indigo an equity value of about $70 million. “The cash premium transaction will provide Minority Shareholders with immediate and certain value that is expected to be higher than that realizable […]
M&A
As Expected, Silver Lake to Take Endeavor Private Again
Endeavor’s controlling owner Silver Lake confirmed on Tuesday that it will take Endeavor private again, but all outstanding stock for $27.50 a share. It took the company multiple attempts to go public in the first place, finally doing so in 2021 at $24 a share. Though Silver Lake’s press release trumpets the value that has been created for shareholders, most outside investors have not reaped any bonanza from Endeavor. The stock was languishing at below $18 a share last fall when the company said it would explore a sale and Silver Lake indicated it was putting together a proposal to […]
Scholastic to Acquire 9 Story Media Group
Scholastic has signed a deal with children’s content creator, producer, and distributor 9 Story Media Group, in which it will acquire 100 percent economic interest in the company, as well as minority voting rights, for approximately $186 million. The two companies have previously collaborated on TV projects including the “Clifford the Big Red Dog” reboot for PBS Kids and Amazon Prime Video and “Eva the Owlet” on Apple TV+. Scholastic ceo and president Peter Warwick said in a release, “This highly strategic combination, adding 9 Story’s industry-leading capabilities with Scholastic’s trusted brand and proven ability to create iconic children’s series and […]
Acquisitions: Belt Publishing
Arcadia Publishing has acquired midwest publisher Belt Publishing. They write in a release that Belt will maintain editorial independence and publish under its existing brand. Arcadia ceo Brittain Phillips said, “Belt provides Arcadia with two terrific opportunities in one acquisition. It strengthens our local and regional catalog in the Midwest, where Belt has been publishing remarkable books for a decade. And as we look to the future, Belt helps to expand the way we think about local-interest publishing, with new voices and fresh ways to define sense of place.”
Skyhorse to Acquire Regnery
Skyhorse announced a deal to acquire conservative publisher Regnery from Salem Media Group, which amusingly they chose to release through the New York Times. (But it worked, and got the paper to cover an otherwise small acquisition.) Regnery is projecting sales of just $10 million for 2023, and will operate as an imprint of Skyhorse. They bring a backlist of over 1,500 titles. Skyhorse president and publisher Tony Lyons tells the NYT candidly that his books “are provocative and dangerous and disturbing,” which he sees as an argument why stores should carry them, to “encourage dialogue and debate.” The transaction […]
The Year in Mergers
2023 was the year of “finally” in mergers and acquisitions, as two long-in-the-making deals involving some of the largest trade publishers finally closed. Simon & Schuster was sold to KKR three-and-a-half years after their parent company started the sale process. And Lagardere (parent of Hachette Book Group and the rest of Lagardere Publishing) is finally controlled by Vivendi, two years after the latter launched their tender offer to acquire Lagardere, and three-and-a-half years after first buying a stake in Lagardere. In order to take control of Lagardere, Vivendi finally had to divest of Editis — after trying other options — […]