Approximately six months after the London equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired Kluwer Academic Publishers for 600 million euros (News, Nov. 4, 2002), the two paid 1.05 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for BertelsmannSpringer. The two firms had been the leading candidates to acquire the professional publisher ever since parent company Bertelsmann put the house up for sale as part of its plan to reduce debt.
Springer had revenue in 2002 of 731 million euros, making the purchase price roughly 1.4 times annual sales or nearly 11 times 2002 EBITDA of 102.4 million euros. Candover and Cinven will merge Springer with KAP to create an international professional publishing company that would have had sales of 880 million euros in 2002. The new firm will be renamed Springer.
BertelsmannSpringer publishes more than 700 journals and trade magazines and over 4,000 books in most segments of the professional market, and has offices in 16 countries. Its main offices in the U.S. are in New York and Boston, and North America accounts for about 39% of total revenue.
Bertelsmann acquired 80% of Springer in early 1999 for an estimated $600 million in what was seen as the first step in building a major professional publishing business. The company, however, did not follow the Springer purchase with another significant deal, and last year Bertelsmann determined that professional publishing was not a core business.
