Bloomsbury buys academic business of Rowman & Littlefield in biggest deal to date

Bloomsbury Publishing has made its biggest acquisition to date with the purchase of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group’s academic publishing business. Calling it a "game-changer", Bloomsbury c.e.o. Nigel Newton said it would grow the group’s academic and digital publishing presence in North America and open up new markets for the expanding business. 

Last week Bloomsbury unveiled record sales and profits, with revenue up 30% and profit up £49m, propelled by its consumer division, but Newton said the deal underlined its "portfolio of portfolios strategy". It has previously bought a number of companies in the academic and professional sectors, including Continuum back in 2011, I B Tauris, Methuen Drama, Zed Books and most recently Red Globe Press.

The consideration for what Bloomsbury said were the assets that make up the academic publishing of Rowman & Littlefield is $83m (£65m), of which $76m (£60m) has been satisfied in cash on completion and up to $7m (£5m), in escrow, will be satisfied in cash post completion. The transaction does not include Rowman & Littlefield’s Globe Pequot lists (with the exception of the Applause and Backbeat imprints), its trade publishing arm, Sundance-Newbridge, its K-8 education business or National Book Network (NBN), its trade distribution business.

Bloomsbury has financed the acquisition from its own cash resources and a new $38m (£30m) three-year term loan with Lloyds Bank. Rowman & Littlefield is a privately owned independent publisher, founded in 1949. It publishes more than 40,000 academic titles. It generated sales of $36m (£28m) and profit before tax of about $6m (£5m) for the year ending 31st December 2023.

The business added that 115 employees would move across with the deal. The deal will double the size of Bloomsbury’s Academic & Professional business in the US, strengthening the company’s arts, humanities and social sciences and digital resource publishing.

Bloomsbury said: "This transformational acquisition is a significant milestone in Bloomsbury’s 2030 vision, making Bloomsbury a leading US academic publisher. The combined business will publish around 97,000 titles, creating a significant platform for further growth, cementing Bloomsbury’s strong market position in core subject areas and strengthening areas where the company is building a presence such as business and psychology. The acquisition will enable us to focus the combined Bloomsbury Academic business on deeper global market penetration, subject area expansion and continued innovation in digital scholarship and learning." 

Newton added: "This acquisition is a game-changer for Bloomsbury. Rowman & Littlefield is one of the few independent US 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, opening new markets and publishing areas to Bloomsbury, and is a key milestone in the delivery of our long-term growth strategy. Following the exceptional performance in our Consumer division in our recently announced preliminary results, the acquisition accelerates our Non-Consumer division, underlining our portfolio of portfolios strategy."

Jed Lyons, president and c.e.o. of Rowman & Littlefield, commented: “This year 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 superb publishing team that runs the Rowman & Littlefield academic business will find a welcoming home at Bloomsbury and our authors will benefit from the global reach of Bloomsbury’s sales and marketing efforts."

Sabrina McCarthy, president of Bloomsbury US, added: “The acquisition of the academic imprints of Rowman & Littlefield solidifies Bloomsbury Academic’s position in the US and globally as an important publisher.  We are thrilled to welcome over 115 new colleagues to the team.  Their academic expertise, impressive list of authors and strong backlist will help to grow the Bloomsbury Digital Resources portfolio and title offering in any format to academic readers across the globe. 

"Our academic division stands for excellence and originality in scholarship, learning and professional practice. Rowman & Littlefield, along with our most recent acquisition of ABC-Clio, ensures we are an ambitious force to address the changing market opportunity from K-12 schools to higher education and beyond. It cements Bloomsbury’s overall presence in the US as a major independent publisher."