Publishing
Since the early 1980's, we have become one of the leading investment advisors to book publishers, in addition to our traditional commercial and intellectual property practice in this field.
We are actively involved in advising publishing and information services clients in a wide range of merger and acquisition transactions, in such areas as trade books, juvenile books, database businesses, cellular rights, newsletters, establishment of venture capital funds and many other areas of publishing, including electronic publishing. The more than 80 transactions successfully completed over the last dozen years range in value from under $5 million to in excess of $50 million. We have been able to even the playing field for small to mid-size publishers who might otherwise be overmatched when dealing with the resources of larger media companies.
The growth of this practice has been developed by our partners Martin Levin, Bob Halper and Bob Giordanella. Martin has an in-depth working knowledge of the publishing business, having been a successful operating executive in major publishing conglomerates for 37 years prior to becoming an attorney working on publishing mergers and acquisitions. Bob has extensive experience handling complex commercial transactions in the publishing field, among others.
This special competence provides our clients with advice on how to establish or increase values, and provides the buyer or seller with entree to the decision makers in publishing and information businesses domestically and abroad. We are also able to add value to publishing transactions by bringing into play specialized tax knowledge to maximize the final benefits of a transaction, and the expertise of our Intellectual Property group, which can give advice on rights that are an essential part of a publishing transaction. Our strong and long-standing experience enables us to bring these transactions to fruition successfully, speedily and economically.
Examples of some of our M&A transactions is listed below:
| FROM: |
| TO: |
| Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. | ALA | |
| Newmarket Press | HarperCollins Publishers | |
| Staffing Industry Analysts, Inc. | Crain Communications, Inc. | |
| The Haworth Press, Inc. | Taylor & Francis Group, LLC | |
| Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. | Rizzoli International Publication, Inc. | |
| Allerton Press Inc. | Pleiades Publishing, Inc. | |
| Consortium Book Sales & Dist. Inc. | Perseus Books Group | |
| Oceana Publications, Inc. | Oxford University Press, Inc. | |
| Lawyers Weekly, Inc. | Dolan Media Company | |
| Walker Publishing Company, Inc. | Bloomsbury Publishing, PLC | |
| Art Now, Inc. | LTB Holding (USA) Inc. | |
| CDC Construction News | Alta Communications | |
| Sea Star Books of North-South Books, Inc. | Chronicle Books, LLC | |
| Berkshire House Publishers, Inc. | W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. | |
| Greenhaven Press, Inc. and Lucent Books, Inc. | Gale Group, Inc., division of Thomson Corporation | |
| Petersons Guides, Inc. | The Thomson Corporation | |
| The Lyons Press | The Globe Pequot Press | |
| Hudson Hills Press, Inc. | Gallery Press, LLC | |
| Emanuel Publishing Corp. | Aspen Publishers, Inc. | |
| Summers Press, Inc. | Aspen Publishers, Inc. | |
| Presidio Press | Random House, Inc. | |
| Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc. | Harcourt General, Inc. | |
| American Booksellers Association, Inc. Trade Show | Reed Publishing (USA), Inc. | |
| Lectorum Publications, Inc. | Scholastic, Inc. | |
| Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc. | Putnam Berkley Group, Inc. | |
| Shareholder sale of 50% Interest in the Haworth Press, Inc. | Haworth Press, Inc. | |
| Howell Book House, Inc. | MacMillan, Inc. | |
| Sales of Rights to Unofficial Guide Travel Series from Menasha Ridge Press Inc. | MacMillan Publishing, USA. | |
| Price Stern Sloan, Inc. | Putnam Berkeley Group, Inc. | |
| South Park Press, Inc. | The Musterlin Group PLC | |
| Schocken Books, Inc. | Random House, Inc. | |
| AIP Press | Springer Verlag New York, Inc. | |
| Sandak, Inc. | GK Hall, division of MacMillan Company | |
| Alloy Digest, Inc. | ASM International | |
| Baskerville Communications Corporation | Informa Group PLC | |
| Williamson Publishing Company | Guideposts | |
| Ideals Publications | Guideposts |
Selling a business is generally a one-time event and the business often represents a major asset of individual owners. CLL offers those dealing with such a situation an opportunity to meet without any obligation. In this meeting, we review the history of the business, its financial history, the likelihood of a sale, the tax and estate and family planning aspects of the sale. In our practice we have continued to review and advise clients over many years developing a close informed relationship that is helpful to the process.
We welcome you to call one of our lawyers who are familiar with mergers and acquisitions of Publishing and Information Services companies to schedule a complimentary meeting and discussion.
| Martin P. Levin | mpl@cll.com | (212) 790-9219 |
| Robert J. Giordanella | rjg@cll.com | (212) 790-9234 |
| Peter R. Porcino | prp@cll.com | (212) 790-9208 |
| Simon Gerson | sxg@cll.com | (212) 790-9206 |
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.