The publisher behind Harry Potter books has boosted its academic publishing arm with the $83 (65m) acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield.
Bloomsbury Publishing, which, as well as JK Rowling’s series, is known for its hits in the fantasy and fiction genres, said the move for the academic and trade publisher “significantly accelerates and strengthens [its] academic publishing in North America”.
The acquisition comes off the set of a bumper set of results for Bloomsbury in which the publisher’s success in fantasy fiction helped it to record profits of £41.5m and hiked its dividend by 25 per cent.
The transaction is structured as a sales and purchase agreement, and of the $83m (£65m) cost, $76m (£60m) has already been satisfied, the firms said in a statement to markets. The remaining $7m (£5.5m) is expected to be satisfied post-completion.
Rowman & Littlefield is a privately-owned independent publisher that publishes more than 40,000 academic titles. The firm will add to the Bloomsbury’s already-successful academic publishing division, which releases titles in fields as diverse as Law, Film & Media, Engineering History and International Development.
Bloomsbury CEO Nigel Newton said: “This acquisition in a game-changer for Bloomsbury. Rowman & Littlefield is one of the few indpendent academic publishers of such scale and it is great that our discussions with Jed Lyons have led to this acquisition. Their 40,000 academic titles added to ours will make us a significant US academic publisher, growing Bloomsbury’s academic and digital publishing presence in North America.”
Bloomsbury, which financed the acquisitions from a new $38m (£30m) three-year loan from Llloyds as well as from its own cash reserves, had set its sights on being a leading US academic publisher. It said it expected the acquisition to help its Digital Resources arm to generate £41m in revenue by 2027.
In 2023, Rowman & Littlefield’s academic business generated $36m (£28m) of revenue and profit before tax of $6m (£5m).
Jed Lyons, President and CEO of Rowman & Littlefield said: “2024 marks the 75th anniversary of Rowman & Littlefield. When Nigel Newton approached me and described his vision for how our academic businesses would complement Bloomsbury’s academic business, it soon became clear that there is a compelling fit.”
The transaction does not include Rowman & Littlefield’s Globe Pequot lists, its trade publishing arm or its trade distribution business.