Lerner Publishing Group has acquired Sundance Newbridge from Globe Pequot. The acquisition includes 3,600 titles, plus educational kits, and more. Sundance Newbridge will operate as a division of Lerner Publishing and its 14 employees will make the move along with the company. Paul Konowitch, president of Sundance Newbridge, will retire. The sale comes shortly after Globe Pequot’s owners sold the Rowman & Littlefield academic publishing business to Bloomsbury for $83 million. R&L acquired Sundance Newbridge from Haights Cross Communications in 2008. The company will continue to operate out of its Massachusetts office. Globe Pequot will continue to handle distribution through […]
Finance
S&S Australia to Acquire Affirm Press
Simon & Schuster Australia has an agreement to acquire Australian independent publisher Affirm Press. In conjunction with Affirm, S&S plans to grow their local publishing publishing program and expand further into children’s. Affirm will maintain its brand independence, operating as a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster Australia. Employees will be able to enroll in S&S’s ownership program. The deal is “subject to customary closing conditions.” “We are immensely proud to have built Affirm Press to the company it is today,” said Affirm Press ceo and publishing director Martin Hughes in a release, “And excited at the opportunity to become part […]
Acquisitions: Mare Nostrum Group Buys Eurospan
Mare Nostrum Group has acquired academic sales and distribution company Eurospan, including all asset and businesses, in a deal that will close August 14. Eurospan’s parent United Independent Distributors went into bankruptcy administration on July 24. Mare Nostrum Group’s distribution partner, Wiley, will take on the Eurospan client inventory in their facility in Bognor Regis. Wiley will also offer print-on-demand options to the group’s clients. Managing Director of Mare Nostrum Group David Pickering, said, “We are delighted to be able to offer the Eurospan team and their publisher clients a home at Mare Nostrum Group. In the past we have […]
German Bookseller Weltbild Will Close
With no buyer to be found, German bookseller Weltbild will close its 14 remaining stores by the end of August and liquidate. Most of the approximately 440 employees will lose their jobs. But Augsburger Allgemeine reports that the country’s leading bookseller Thalia is interested in acquiring assets from the bankruptcy estate — including inventory, trademark rights and the Tolino ereader and ebook business. Thalia has submitted an application to the Federal Cartel Office regarding its purchase interest.
Australia’s Booktopia Sold to DigiDirect
Online electronics retailer digiDirect has bought Booktopia, after it was pushed into bankruptcy in June by its credit card processor, owing creditors about $60 million (AU). The acquisition, for an undisclosed amount of money, includes all the business’s assets. DigiDirect is owned by Shant Kradjian, who will serve as ceo. Kradjian says he is adding 100 jobs back to the company and encouraging laid off employees to return (the company laid off about 90 workers over the past 18 months). The previous senior management and board of directors will not be a part of the company going forward. Kradjian was […]
Editis in Talks to Acquire Delcourt
Editis has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire French comics publisher Groupe Delcourt. The deal would give strengthen Editis’ offerings in the comics and manga business, while Delcourt would benefit from the support of a major publishing group. Delcourt president Guy Delcourt would “remain at the head of the house he founded nearly 40 years ago, and whose identity and operational autonomy would be preserved,” a release states. Delcourt said, “The Delcourt Group is opening a new page in its history by entering into exclusive negotiations with the Editis Group. This new home port would be both reassuring in its scope and […]