Waterstones owners 'in exclusive talks' to buy Blackwell's

Waterstones’ owners have reportedly entered into exclusive talks to buy Blackwell’s, after the chain was put up for sale last week for the first time in its 143-year history.  

Sky News reported that Waterstones, which is owned by the US-based hedge fund Elliott Advisors, has secured a period of exclusivity within which to negotiate a deal. 

Blackwell’s confirmed to The Bookseller this morning (7th February) that it had entered a period of exclusivity with a third party, but declined to name the prospective buyer. Elliott Advisors and Waterstones declined to comment.   

If the deal were to go ahead, it would mean Blackwell’s, Waterstones, Foyles and US chain Barnes & Noble would all be under the same ownership. 

Last week, Enders Analysis predicted Elliott would likely buy Blackwell’s given the book retail firms it has bought in recent years and estimated the settlement would be somewhere between £6m and £20m. 

Sky said the likely terms of a transaction were unclear but cited a source saying it was being pursued on a solvent basis. 

Enders suggested last week any acquisition was unlikely to fall foul of the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), explaining: "From a competition perspective, a CMA case was brought forward when Ottakar’s was bought by HMV/Waterstones, where, in terms of the market definition, the CMA concluded that ’competitors in the market included all types of retailer, both specialist and generalist bricks and mortar retailers, and distance sellers including internet retailers and book clubs’, Given this was in 2006, and Amazon’s share of book retailing will only likely have gained, we would imagine they would be thinking along similar lines now. 

"The CMA also considered a geographic market definition and the impact of overlapping footprints. Blackwell’s has 18 UK-based shops (one fewer than last year), all located in major cities, so that seems unlikely to be a barrier."