Harcourt — The Next Play The newest entry under this year’s theme of “everything is for sale” is the Harcourt Education business, as owner Reed Elsevier masked a shortfall in analysts’ expectations for their fiscal year-end report by announcing that Harcourt will be sold in the coming year. Harcourt as a whole has turned in weak results for the past two years, with sales for the just-closed fiscal 2006 of 889 million pounds, or $1.739 million, (down from 901 million pounds, or $1.763 million) and operating profit of 121 million pounds, or $237 million, down from 161 million pounds or […]

B&T’s Offer In papers filed with the bankruptcy court Baker & Taylor has officially been designated by the debtors as a “stalking horse bidder,” setting the bar for competitive — and not necessarily directly comparable — offers. The variations come because likely no party will be bidding to acquire AMS in its entirety; the bidders will all come with different visions (and prices) for the particular bones that they want to pick. Baker & Taylor’s offer provides for a purchase price estimated at $76.25 million, according to the revised letter of intent filed with the bankruptcy court. The components provide […]

Thursday You’ll Know Yesterday in Delaware bankruptcy court, the judge decided to hold over a decision on the sale of PGW until Thursday. He gave NBN until the close of business tomorrow to return with formal purchase agreement documents. If they satisfy the judge’s conditions, he will convene an auction on Thursday between the two bidders; if not, he will approve the sale to Perseus. NBN head Jed Lyons says “we’re going to deliver to the court tomorrow by 5 pm a final offer,” indicating that “the only thing missing yesterday was the legal documentation of all aspects of the […]

The Baker & Taylor Card Livening up today’s proceedings, AMS announced it has signed a letter of intent to sell “the majority of its assets, excluding PGW,” to Baker & Taylor — the company that current AMS ceo Gary Rautenstrauch ran until mid-2003. They note that “the letter of intent is subject to the negotiation of a definitive asset purchase agreement and the approval of the bankruptcy court.” The parties expect to request a bidding procedures hearing before the bankruptcy court on February 16, and would hope to close a deal by March 15. Richard Willis, who took over as […]

The Day in Delaware The PGW-AMS situation begins in confusion in court in Delaware today and may or may not achieve clarity by later in the day. The most closely-watched set of decisions before the judge involves the Perseus and NBN offers to acquire the distribution contracts of PGW publishers. (As Radio Free PGW points out, eight responses have been filed just to the Perseus sale motion.) But there are larger issues before the court as well, including the request to finalize the debtor-in-possession financing from Wells Fargo Foothilll (which the creditors committee, among others, has objected to), and various […]

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 Sam Michel’s debut novel, BIG DOGS AND FLYBOYS, about an eighteen-year-old who […]