Denmark's SAGA acquires Audiobuch

Danish digital publishing house SAGA has acquired the audiobook press Audiobuch Verlag oHG, a move which sees it become the largest audiobook publisher in Denmark.

SAGA is part of the Lindhardt og Ringhof publishing house of Egmont. It has over 80,000 digital titles in more than 30 languages in its catalogue, and over 5,000 audiobooks in German. Including Audiobuch, parent company Lindhardt og Ringhof will have acquired five publishers by the close of 2021.

Audiobuch's publishing activities will be based in Copenhagen in co-operation with the SAGA staff in Freiburg. Audiobuch will be helmed by editorial director Thilde Pfeifer (pictured above), who said:"Audiobuch's catalogue is diverse, commercially strong and of high award-winning quality. The publisher has won the Deutscher Hörbuchpreis [German Audiobook Prize] and Deutscher Buchpreis [German Book Prize] several times."

Lasse Horne, publishing director of SAGA, said: "With the acquisition we consolidate our strong position in the German audiobook market. We still have great ambitions for SAGA worldwide and Germany is one of Europe's most important book markets. We expect significant growth here as digitalisation accelerates and streaming becomes more widespread." 

"We will be publishing many of Audiobuch's authors internationally in the future. There is a lot of untapped potential here for the authors and the publisher."

Lindhardt og Ringhof c.e.o. Lars Boesgaard said: "The publishing industry has experienced a great tailwind in recent years. Here in the first half of 2021 alone, the Swedish book market grew by 10%, and this development only further boosts Lindhardt og Ringhof's digital ambitions internationally. We have several other interesting things in our sights."