Surprise merger for Germany's Thalia and Mayersche chains

The German book market has been shaken up by a surprise merger between two major bookselling companies, announced this morning. Market leader Thalia and Mayersche, one of the largest regional chains, will join forces to become Europe’s largest specialist bookseller. Details of the deal - which needs to be approved by the competition authorities - have not been disclosed.

The merger brings together two companies which both have close family ties. In the summer of 2016 US private equity investor Advent International sold Thalia to a consortium of experienced trade insiders consisting of the families Herder and Kreke as well as Leif Göritz and c.e.o. Michael Busch.  The current group of partners will be joined by the Falter family, which has owned Mayersche since 1950.

Additionally c.e.o. Hartmut Falter will join Busch as second managing partner and will also become a member of Thalia’s executive board, tasked with the integration of the two companies and future corporate development. Falter will also retain responsibility for the Mayersche-owned Best of Books (B.O.B.), a leading provider of books for ancillary retailers such as supermarkets, drugstores and department stores.

At current count the new German bookselling power consists of approximately 300 Thalia and 55 Mayersche branches. Joint turnover is estimated at around €1.1bn, of which Thalia accounts for €950m. While Mayersche so far mainly operates in Germany’s largest country Northrhine-Westphalia, Thalia has branches all over the country as well as bookstores in Austria and a 50% share in Orell Füssli Thalia in Switzerland. Both companies are actively selling the Tolino e-readers and tablets: Thalia has been a founding member of the Tolino Alliance in 2012, while Mayersche joined three years later. Thalia is also a shareholder in the German digital book subscription Skoobe.

In a joint statement Busch and Falter named strategic, not financial, reasons for the merger of the two companies. The changing environment in book retailing requires “future-oriented concepts and alliances”, they said. Thalia and Mayersche will be merging “into an innovative and strong bookseller that will not only be the major player in the German market, but the most successful multichannel bookseller by international comparison." The merger also sends out a clear message to the German industry according to Michael Busch. “We are banking on stable alliances and partnerships because as booksellers we are more successful when working together.”

Details of how Mayersche will be integrated under the Thalia roof are still unclear. But the new corporate structure stipulates that both companies will continue operating under their established names with the aim of bringing the consumer “a new level of quality”. Apart from further strengthening its brick-and-mortar presence, a core project will be online expansion to make the company even more competitive internationally.