Bloomsbury completes Red Globe Press acquisition for £3.7m

Bloomsbury’s acquisition of academic imprint Red Globe Press (RGP) from Macmillan Education Limited has now been completed in a £3.7m deal.

The publisher announced it had acquired the Springer Nature Group imprint today (1st June), six weeks after signing the sale and purchase agreement. “The consideration was £3.7m, of which £1.8m has been satisfied in cash at completion and up to £1.9m will be paid post-completion, subject to assignment of certain contracts,” the announcement reads.

RGP specialises in titles for higher education students globally, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, business and management, and study skills with a backlist of more than 7,000 titles, publishing more than 100 new titles a year. The content includes digital platforms, textbooks, research-driven materials and general academic publishing.

Its three digital products will be migrated to Bloomsbury Digital Resources’ own platform and its content added to Bloomsbury Collections. The business will operate within the publishers Academic & Professional division.

Nigel Newton (pictured), Bloomsbury c.e.o., said in April the acquisition would boost its non-consumer business, accelerating the company’s digital growth and its presence in humanities and social sciences academic publishing.

RGP generated £9.6m of revenue in the year ending 31st December 2020, and profit before tax of £1.1m, with gross assets of approximately £0.8m. In the remaining nine months of Bloomsbury’s financial year ending 28th February 2022, RGP is expected to contribute approximately £6m of revenue and £0.4m of profit before tax, before integration and acquisition costs.