Nature Magazine Publisher (Macmillan Science And Education) and Springer Science Announce Intention to Merge

UPDATE Noon January 15, 2015 We asked Springer about specific plans to merge journal packages and other products. Here’s what they had to say.

From a Springer Spokesperson:
Today’s announcement was simply that: an announcement that we intend to merge. However, we will have to wait for several months before various competition authorities give us the all-clear to do so. So there are no plans at the moment and we won’t be announcing any details until after clearing, which is expected before the end of June.

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Two items.

1. Nature magazine publisher to merge with Springer Science (via Reuters)

The publisher of science magazines Nature and Scientific American is merging with private equity-owned peer Springer Science+Business Media, creating a group with 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion) in annual sales and 13,000 employees.

Germany’s Holtzbrinck, which owns Nature publisher Macmillan Science and Education, will combine the majority of its activities with BC Partners’ Springer unit, which among other publishes scientific, technical and medical books and journals.

2. Full Text of Formal Announcement and Details (Including List (Below) of What Is and Is Not Part of the Merger)

Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (Holtzbrinck) and BC Partners (BCP) announced today that they have reached an agreement to merge Springer Science+Business Media (owned by funds advised by BCP) in its entirety with the majority of Holtzbrinck-owned Macmillan Science and Education (MSE), namely Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan and the global businesses of Macmillan Education.

The merger comprises Springer Science+Business Media (owned by funds advised by BCP) with the majority of businesses owned by Holtzbrinck and currently operating as part of Macmillan Science and Education (MSE), namely:

• Nature Publishing Group and Palgrave Macmillan – leading providers of high quality journals, magazines, products and services for the research community and the wider general public. These include Nature (one of the most prestigious science publications), Scientific American (with more than 6m unique users) and Palgrave Macmillan (a prominent humanities and social sciences publisher);

• The global businesses of Macmillan Education – comprising Macmillan Education Language Learning (the third largest global provider of English language publishing), Macmillan Education Schools (a local K12 publisher) and Palgrave, one of Macmillan Education’s higher education businesses, including the distribution rights outside the US for the Bedford, Freeman and Worth higher education titles. Together they serve customers in 50 markets and supply high-quality content and innovative digital products and services to customers in 120 countries around the world.

The Springer Science+Business Media portfolio includes, among others:

• All of Springer’s scientific, technical and medical books and journals (which includes those published using open access under the BioMed Central, SpringerOpen and Springer Open Choice imprints as well as all German-language science products) and all archives and other quality content provided to academic and research institutions as well as corporate R&D departments via innovative information products and services;

• Adis – a leading global provider of drug information on which healthcare professionals, researchers, decision-makers and drug developers alike rely;

• Apress – a technical publisher providing high-quality, no-fluff content in print and electronic formats to meet the needs of IT professionals, software developers and programmers; and

• All businesses in Springer’s Professional Publishing division, including, among others, Verlag Heinrich Vogel, Fuchsbriefe, Springer Automotive Media, Codes Rousseau, Etrasa and Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.

The following businesses will not be part of the merged company but will remain under 100% ownership of Holtzbrinck:

• Macmillan Publishers, the global consumer books division of Holtzbrinck, including Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage and J.B. Metzler;

• The Macmillan Education US higher education business (Bedford, Freeman, Worth)

• Holtzbrinck Ventures and Holtzbrinck Digital, Information and Services;

• Macmillan New Ventures, Digital Science and Digital Education (the Macmillan Science and Education technology and software businesses).