U.K.–based publishing services provider Mare Nostrum Group has acquired Eurospan, the academic distribution arm of United Independent Distributors (UID), which filed for bankruptcy in late July. According to MNG’s announcement, the company’s offer to buy Eurospan was accepted on July 29, and the deal was completed on August 16.
Eurospan has provided distribution services to around 200 academic, professional, scientific, and medical publishers for 60 years. The acquisition, MNG said, “will bring significant growth in both turnover and staff,” while also enabling MNG to further improve its sales and marketing services. MNG’s U.K. distribution partner, Wiley, will integrate the inventory of Eurospan’s publisher clients into its Bognor Regis facility, from which Eurospan clients will be distributed.
“We are delighted to be able to offer the Eurospan team and their publisher clients a home at Mare Nostrum Group,” said David Pickering, managing director of MNG, in a statement. “In the past, we have worked with and admired Eurospan, and we were saddened to see its gradual demise and the significant problems that this situation created for Eurospan publisher clients. With this in mind, we intend to make the transition for Eurospan publishers as smooth and as efficient as possible.”
Dane O’Hara, director at Leonard Curtis, which is overseeing the UID bankruptcy process, called the sale of Eurospan to MNG “a positive outcome” for all stakeholders, given the challenging conditions. “We are pleased to have found a home for the Eurospan business and, crucially, their staff,” he said.
UID, which was acquired by Independent Publishers Group in 2021, was officially put into administration July 24. IPG CEO Joe Matthews acknowledged that, despite efforts to restructure the company—which also included Marston Book Services and Orca Book Services—business conditions did not improve enough over the last three years to make UID profitable.
