Houghton Raises Cash by Selling College Assets to Cengage for $750 Million Highly-leveraged Houghton is working to bring down their debt levels by selling off their College Division for $750 million, to Cengage Learning (the company formerly known as Thomson Learning). Cengage says they can finance the deal under their current credit agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland, along with an unspecified “additional equity investment” from the private equity partners that own the company. Houghton says it wants to “focus on its core K-12 educational publishing business,” which will expand further once their acquisition of the Harcourt Education assets […]

Guinness World Records for Sale Again HIT Entertainment (owned by private equity firm Apax) has put the Guinness World Records franchise back up for sale, with a reported price tag of about $120 million, the Times reports. (Separately, they are also looking to sell of Sooty the puppet.) HIT acquired the business when it bought Gullane Entertainment in 2002 and considered selling it off at the time. Times Washington Post’s Holiday Picks The Post’s book section presents a variety of picks from the year, culling their 100 “most favorable” reviews for both nonfiction and fiction, along with their Top Ten […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up   FICTION Debut Film director David Cronenberg’s first novel, partially set in Toronto, to […]

Borders Awards Nominees Among those nominated for Borders’ Original Voices awards: Fiction Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking, by Aoibheann Sweeney An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England, by Brock Clarke The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss No One Belongs Here More Than You, by Miranda July The Raw Shark Texts, by Steven Hall The Secret of Lost Things, by Sheridan Hay Non-Fiction A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah Here If You Need Me: A True Story, by Kate Braestrup My Father’s Secret War, by Lucinda Franks Prisoner of […]

Regulators Approve Harcourt Sale; Would You Like to Buy Some Debt? The Justice Department has signed off on the sale of Harcourt’s US education business to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep without requiring the spinoff of any assets, as some had expected. (They are still evaluating the proposed sale of Harcourt’s Assessment business to Pearson.) With approval, now all HM Riverdeep needs is cash. The latest word is that the consortium of banks (Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse and Citigroup) that agreed to finance the deal along with a refinancing of other parts of the company, for a total of $7.15 billion, is […]

Books-A-Million: Comps Up 2 Percent; Loss Widens The number three book chain reported same-store sales rose 2.1 percent in their fiscal third quarter, reaching $117.7 million overall. Their net loss rose, however, to $555,000, nearly three times the loss this time a year ago. CEO Sandra Cochran says in the release that “operating costs for the period, driven primarily by an increase in heath care expense, exceeded our plan. Looking forward, our fourth quarter best seller lineup is solid, and we are focused on executing our merchandising and marketing plans for the holiday season.” Release Judge Says Book Reading/Purchasing Is […]