France's La Martinière and Média-Participations to join forces

French publishers La Martinière Groupe and Média-Participations announced today (Thursday 21st September) that they have started exclusive negotiations on a tie-up through an exchange of shares and should reach agreement in the next few months.
 
The new entity will become the third largest publisher in France after Hachette Livre and Editis on the basis of the latest annual ranking of French publishers compiled by the trade publication Livres Hebdo in June. Média-Participations ranked fifth with 2016 sales of 355m euros and La Martinière ranked seventh with sales of €206m.
 
Média-Participations, a leader in the comic book sector, includes Fleurus, Dargaud, Dupuis, and Rustica, and acquired French fiction publisher Editions Anne Carrière last June. La Martinière Groupe includes Le Seuil, L’Olivier, Knesebeck of Germany as well as Abrams in New York and several other imprints.

Hervé de La Martinère, who founded the eponymous company 25 years ago, said the two groups are complementary. “For a long time we have shared a similar international vision, which led me to buy Abrams (in 1997),” he said in a joint statement. 

Vincent Montagne, chairman and c.e.o. of Média-Participations and president of the French publishers association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE), added that the two groups are also family-owned. Their common philosophy and market developments prompted them to create “very a large and very diversified group,” he said in the statement.

Further terms and conditions, such as who will be c.e.o. of the joined venture, are said to be still under negotiation.