Scholarly Publishing: De Gruyter is Acquiring Brill in All-Cash €51.5 Million ($54.6 Million/USD) Deal

From a Joint Release:

 De Gruyter and Brill jointly announce they have reached agreement to form De Gruyter Brill through a recommended all-cash public offer by De Gruyter for all Brill securities at an offer price of EUR 27.50 per security (cum dividend), representing a total consideration of approx. EUR 51.5 million.  

The transaction creates the leading academic publisher in the Humanities and presents a unique opportunity to accelerate organic growth and achieve necessary scale. With pro forma combined revenues of around EUR 134 million and 750 employees, De Gruyter Brill will be well-positioned to offer the best possible service and infrastructure to its communities, jointly publishing well over 3,500 books and 800 journals per year.  

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The combination of two centuries-old publishing houses will be branded De Gruyter Brill, signaling the importance of the strong heritage and family background of both companies. Upon the closing of the transaction, De Gruyter Brill headquarters will be in Berlin, Germany, while Brill’s office in Leiden, the Netherlands, will be the second largest office of the new combination and will continue to have material substance, both in number of people and in terms of responsibilities.

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The combination will have a core executive team (the “Core Executive Team”), which shall be composed of De Gruyter’s current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Finance Officer (CFO), Carsten Buhr and Christopher Radloff, and Brill’s current Chief Publishing Officer (CPO), Jasmin Lange. The management board of the combination (the “Combination Management Board”) shall comprise seven members and be composed of the Core Executive Team and a Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), a Chief Operations Officer (COO), a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), who will be appointed as soon as possible in accordance with the “best person for the job”- principle. It is the intention to fully integrate the businesses as soon as possible after settlement.

Learn More, Read the Complete Joint News Release
10 pages; PDF.

Media Coverage:  via The Bookseller

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