PRH buys Santillana's trade book businesses

Penguin Random House is to increase its presence in the Spanish-language world after acquiring the trade book businesses of Santillana Ediciones Generales, the Spain-based textbook and general interest publishing group.
 
It is the first international acquisition for Penguin Random House. In an announcement on its website, Santillana said the purchase price was €72m.

In an email to staff at Penguin Random House worldwide, c.e.o. Markus Dohle said the acquisition would create “an unrivalled roster of Spanish and international authors that we will bring to a greater worldwide audience”.

He continued: “When we officially became Penguin Random House, I proudly announced that this new company of ours was the first truly global trade book publisher. This acquisition makes the promise of that statement even more meaningful as we further expand our international reach and deepen our relevance in several major and growing markets.”

Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, the publisher’s Spanish-language company, will purchase the Spanish-language and Portuguese-language trade book business companies of Santillana Ediciones Generales from parent company PRISA.

The deal will be closed when relevant legal and administrative obligations are completed. Until then the two companies will continue to operate separately.

Once the deal is closed Santillana Ediciones Generales operations in its Spanish-language territories and in Portugal will become part of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial.

Núria Cabutí will continue in her role as the company’s c.e.o., with the support of Armando Collazos, global director for Prisa Ediciones. The newly expanded business expects to publish 1,500 titles a year.

Penguin Random House Brazil, which also holds a 45% minority stake in Companhia das Letras, will acquire full ownership of Objetiva, which is located in Rio de Janeiro and publishes authors including Stephen King, Haruki Murakami and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Luiz Schwarcz will supervise the operations of Penguin Random House in Brazil, with the support of Roberto Feith, c.e.o. of Objetiva. Schwarz will also continue as director general of Companhia das Letras.

Dohle said in the official announcement: “We will draw and build upon the great publishing traditions of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, Santillana Ediciones Generales, Companhia das Letras, and Objetiva, and the creativity and dedication of their enormously talented staff. With our combined company, we will be in an even stronger position to provide authors and booksellers with a tremendous variety of publishing opportunities, and readers with an incomparable range of reading choices.

“The union of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial and Santillana’s trade book businesses will be ideal for bringing Spanish- and Portuguese-language authors to a wider global audience, together with achieving greater international reach for Penguin Random House.”

The deal does not include the acquisition of Santillana’s children’s and young adult literature geared to schools and educational institutions.

Miguel Angel Cayuela, c.e.o. of Santillana, said the decision to sell to Penguin Random House was not “easy” to make.

“However, these are times that require us to devote all our efforts to the very operations that defined us from the very beginning of our company, and our core business, which is education,” he said. “Spurred by innovation and technology, we are experiencing a major transformation across the sector, and our hope and commitment is that Santillana will be a major player in this change. We now hope to put all our knowledge and ideas to work in the service of a new and better education program.”