The Springer Nature IPO will officially price later in the day Tuesday, but the bookrunners were indicating only modest demand for shares and are expected to price the stock at 10.50 euros, the bottom end of their range, before shares start trading in Frankfurt on Wednesday. At that price, the offering should raise 1.2 billion euros in proceeds, which the publisher will use to pay down their debt load of approximately 3 billion euros. That would give their shares a market cap of 3.2 billion euros. On Friday, Holtzbrinck stepped in to support the offering after “demand fell short of […]
International News
Controlling Stake In Waterstones Sold to Elliott Advisors
As has been expected since they initiated an exclusive negotiation period at the end of January, hedge fund Elliott Advisors has reached a deal to acquire and finance UK bookselling chain Waterstones, for undisclosed terms. They are financing the transaction — a good portion of which likely includes either the assumption, or repayment, of Waterstones’ debt of between 83 million and 139 million pounds — themselves. Current owner Alexander Mamut’s Lynwood Investments will retain a minority stake, however, and the deal is expected to close in early May. James Daunt will stay on as ceo of the chain. Head of […]
Springer Nature Formalizes Frankfurt IPO
In line with lengthy preparations, academic publisher Springer Nature formally announced plans to list shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, looking to raise approximately €1.2 billion in proceeds. Timing was not announced, but in Germany shares usually start trading four weeks after an IPO is announced. Holtzbrinck, currently a 53 percent owner, will retain all of their shares. Minority partner BC Partners, which owns 47 percent of the company, may “include a secondary placement” to sell some of their shares in the IPO, “depending on the market environment.” The proceeds from the offering will be used “to strengthen Springer Nature’s financial profile” — […]
People, Etc.
Janine Barlow and Samantha Zukergood have both been promoted to assistant editor at Thomas Dunne Books. At Dutton, Jamie Knapp has been promoted to associate director of publicity, and Becky Odell moves up to associate publicist. James Hegberg has been promoted to senior online marketing manager at Sourcebooks. At Random House Children’s books, on the licensed & proprietary brands marketing team: Krister Engstrom has been promoted to assistant director, Tara Grieco moves up to associate marketing manager, and Jena Debois is now marketing coordinator. Sarah Gaydos will join Oni Press as editorial director of licensed publishing. She has been an editor at IDW Publishing. Rebecca Vnuk has joined LibraryReads […]
People, Etc.
Seth Russo, vice president and director of international sales at Simon & Schuster will retire on April 20, after 35 years in international sales. Executive director, global digital and international sales Colin Shields will take on the direct, day-to-day responsibility for the international sales channel. Newly reporting to him will be Rema Badwan and Danielle Cumbo, and Christina “Chrissy” Festa will add audio sales to her portfolio as director, audio, digital and online sales. The New York Times Book Review is adding a new monthly column about graphic novels and comics. The columnists will be Hillary Chute, author of Why Comics? From […]
Waterstones Performs Only A Little Better, and Restates Debt Schedule
UK bookseller Waterstones reported results for the fiscal year ending back on April 29, 2017, which the UK media has reported with their customary excess of enthusiasm. What the numbers show is that sales were flat or somewhat down, at £404 million, compared to £409 million in fiscal 2016 (which was an unusual 53-week year). Actual profit after tax of £16 million was down £1.5 million (or 9 percent). But the headlines declare “Waterstones’ annual profits jump 80%.” That’s referring to profit before tax, which indeed was £18 million, up from £9.9 million a year ago. (Last year they captured […]