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Random House SA to merge with Struik Publishing

02.09.08 Benedicte Page

Random House South Africa is merging with Struik Publishing to create Random House Struik, it was announced today.

Confirmation of the merger came following approval from South Africa's Competition Commission.
Random House Struik will be 50.1% owned by New Holland Publishing SA, previously the sole owner of Struik, with the balance held by the Random House Group Ltd in London. Stephen Johnson, previously m.d. of Random House South Africa, will lead the new company.

Half of Random House Struik's output will be local publishing, through imprints such as Zebra Press, Oshun Books and Umuzi. Thereafter the company will draw on the Random House Group's international roster of writers, who iinclude South Africans J M Coetzee and Andre Brink. The merger will also create a stronger platform for the company to move into digital publishing
and reach markets in the Africa continent, the statement said.

Stephen Johnson commented: "Random House Struik will unite the skills and resources of Random House as the international powerhouse of book publishing, with those of South Africa's foremost and probably best-known publisher of local books. We are enormously excited by the prospect of
building the local content of our business, supporting new and established writers to feed the passions and interests of South Africans, who are showing a growing appetite for books and reading."

RHG chair and chief executive Gail Rebuck said that the move was "not only a major expression of confidence in South Africa's book industry, which continues to grow, but in the country and its rich literary talents."

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