The U.K.'s United Independent Distributors (UID), a company that offers distribution for academic, trade and journal publishers, has acquired Eurospan, the sales, marketing, and distribution agency for STM, academic and professional publishers. Founded in 1964, Eurospan is based in London and has more than 250 client publishers.
UID was formed in 2019 with the goal of building a network of companies to provide international distribution services for both publishers and agencies working on behalf of publishers,The company made its first acquisitions last year and now owns Marston Book Services, Orca Book Services and Turpin Distribution in addition to Eurospan. It also has ownership links with Books International and Integrated Books International (printing) in the U.S. as well as partnership links with Printforce in the U.K. and the Netherlands.
Ken Rhodes, who has been managing director of Eurospan since 2016, has been named CEO of UID. Prior to joining Eurospan, Rhodes was managing director of NBN International and a founding director of Rowman & Littlefield International. ‘I’m delighted to be offered the opportunity to lead this group of companies," he said in a statement."‘From a Eurospan perspective, I am pleased that the unique service offer we have provided to client publishers for over 50 years will continue to prosper under UID’s ownership. It will be very much business as usual."
"Bringing together this group of companies provides the scale that modern book distribution requires," said Vartan Ajamian, Chair of UID, said: I’ve known and wanted to work with Ken for some years now and am grateful he has agreed to provide the leadership required to ensure the success of our ambitious enterprise,"
