PRH completes acquisition of Ediciones B

Penguin Random House has acquired Ediciones B’s imprints from Grupo Zeta and will merge it into Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (PRHGE) in Spain and Latin America.

Markus Dohle, c.e.o of PRH, and Antonio Asensio Mosbah, president of Grupo Zeta, announced the final completion of all the required legal and administrative requirements yesterday (3rd July) after the sale was originally announced in April. PRHGE’s c.e.o, Núria Cabutí Brull, said the day would “go down as a very special day in the history of Spanish language publishing”.

The incorporation of the Ediciones B’s imprints “will expand PRHGE’s position as a world leader in Spanish-language trade-book publishing” and enable it “to boost its presence in Spain and in the Latin American market”. A spokesperson said it will offer significant growth potential in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela and in the Hispanic market of the United States through PRHGE’s office in Miami. 

Brull will continue as c.e.o of PRHGE and assume the leadership of Ediciones B. Román de Vicente, director-general of Ediciones B, becomes a member of the PRHGE editorial management team.

The newly combined company will be comprised of more than 40 imprints, each of which will retain its identity and independent publishing program. Together they will publish more than 1,700 titles a year and their backlists will carry works by 8,500 authors, mostly Spanish-language originals and Spanish translations of fiction and non-fiction works for adults, and children in hardcover, paperback, and digital e-books and audio editions.

Dohle said “Penguin Random House is thrilled to welcome the employees and authors of Ediciones B into our family of imprints and publishing houses as we celebrate the creative and successful book publishing that has defined both of our companies.”

He added: “With this acquisition, we expand the reach of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial and solidify our role as a world leader in Spanish-language trade book publishing.”

Brull said: “Today will go down as a very special day in the history of Spanish language publishing. We are not merely bringing two companies together; this merger is meant to help us keep delivering on our overarching mission, which is to publish books in both traditional and new formats to help our authors reach the five hundred million Spanish-speaking readers worldwide.

“Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial will continue to place people at the centre of all our endeavours and responsibilities.

She added: “The publishing programs of our multiple imprints will help us achieve high levels of creativity, and open up new exciting possibilities for our authors, booksellers and readers.”

With the acquisition completed, Cabutí also announced a new organizational structure for PRHGE.

Authors in PRHGE’s catalogue include such Nobel prize winners as Alice Munro, Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, José Saramago, J.M. Coetzee, Orhan Pamuk, Doris Lessing, V.S. Naipaul and Gunter Grass.

Authors new to PRHGE from the Ediciones B imprints are Sarah Lark, John Katzenbach, Bernardo Stamateas, Patricia Cornwell, P.D. James, Anne Rice, David Baldacci, Deepak Chopra and Brandon Sanderson.

The newly merged publisher's catalogs will also be expanded by new children’s and young adult publications and by the addition of a graphic-novel category. PRHGE will publish characters such as the Simpsons; and children’s characters such as Zipi & Zape, Capitán Trueno, Súper López and Wally. 

The price of the sale was not disclosed.