Fox Chapel Publishing has announced three acquisitions that significantly expand the verticals covered by the company, which had been focused on woodworking. They bought crafts and hobby publisher Design Originals, known for their Zentangle series; The Heliconia Press, a publisher of books and magazines on the outdoors (including kayaking and ice fishing); and parenting publisher Plain White Press. Aminatta Forna from Sierra Leone prevailed over David Mitchell and others to win the overall Commonwealth Prize for her novel THE MEMORY OF LOVE. (The book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and was an Indie Next selection.) New Zealander Craig Cliff […]
Finance
Borders Wants Extension on Filing and Soliciting Chapter 11 Exit Strategy
Yesterday in bankruptcy court Borders filed a motion asking for an extension on their exclusive period to file (and receive approval) for a reorganization or sale. The current deadline to file a plan is June 16, but Borders wants another four months (also extending the deadline for approval to December 13). In the motion, Borders acknowledges what the creditors have been underscoring since the original court skirmish over the booksellers’ debtor-in-possession financing plan: “if the Debtors are not granted the requested extension of their Exclusive Periods and exclusivity is terminated, they will be in default under their DIP Credit Agreement.” […]
Mamut Gets Waterstone’s for £53 Million, with Daunt to Run Company
The long, drawn-out process of selling Waterstone’s to minority investor Alexander Mamut is over, with his A&NN Capital Fund Management buying the bookseller for an increased price of £53 million. Parent company HMV didn’t get the £75 million it wanted (and theoretically need to help keep its lenders at bay), but the Russian billionaire paid considerably more than his reported original offer of £35 million. And Tim Waterstone, long speculated by an unimaginative UK press to be Mamut’s partner in the potential deal, will not be involved. Current managing director Dominic Myers won’t be moving with Waterstone’s, and will stay with […]
After-Market Trading Takes BN Shares Above Offering Price; Liberty Expects to Spend $500 Million
As we wrote last night (a couple of times), Wall Street views Liberty Media’s offer of $17 a share for Barnes & Noble as the opening price, not the price at which a transaction will close. Shares rose past that point by the close of the after-market last night at 8:00 and opened regular trading this morning at more than $18 a share. A number of factors are driving the share price now–some having to do with revised assessments of Barnes & Noble’s value now that someone else wants to go steady, and some relating to technical trading factors. Despite […]
Liberty Media Offers to Buy Barnes & Noble
After an investigation of strategic options begun by Barnes & Noble’s board last summer, today after the close of the market the company announced an offer from a prospective buyer. The special committee of the board charged with evaluating offers said that John Malone’s Liberty Media has offered $17 per share in cash to acquire control of the company. But “the proposal states that it is contingent on the participation of founding chairman Leonard Riggio, both in terms of his continuing equity ownership and his continuing role in management.” The committee says it “will evaluate this proposal” along with financial […]
No Buyer for All of Borders; Edwards Previews Kobo Plans
It will surprise no one (except perhaps some PW readers) that there were no bids to buy Borders in its entirety as a going concern by the “soft deadline” of May 6. Giving you some idea of a savvy bookselling appraisal of what’s left that’s worth buying, Barnes & Noble is said by Bloomberg and the WSJ to have placed a modest bid: To buy about 10 locations, the booksellers’ web site, and the Borders Rewards customer databases. (A BN spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the report to the WSJ.) Practically speaking, the chain still has another month or […]