FRIDAY Legal Solicitors have completed another major share sale for one of their long standing clients. Igloo Books, who turnover £30 million pounds a year, are one of the major book publishers in the UK and have been acquired by another leading UK based publisher, Bonnier Publishing. The acquisition by Bonnier Publishing, who currently turn over £55m a year, will create an £85m group that will specialise in both children and adult titles.
FRIDAY Legal Solicitors have completed another major share sale for one of their long standing clients. Igloo Books, who turnover £30 million pounds a year, are one of the major book publishers in the UK and have been acquired by another leading UK based publisher, Bonnier Publishing. The acquisition by Bonnier Publishing, who currently turn over £55m a year, will create an £85m group that will specialise in both children and adult titles. Significantly, the deal will mean that Bonnier Publishing becomes one of the five largest children’s publishers in the UK and the dominant force in children’s mass market publishing. The acquisition took place on the 30th October 2014 and all 120 Igloo Books staff members will continue to be based at their Northamptonshire offices and CEO John Styring and his management team will all retain their roles following the acquisition. Commenting on the deal, Igloo Books CEO John Styring stated: “We have been growing the Igloo Books business at an impressive rate over the last eight years. We have taken the business from a Company turning over £1.6m in 2006 to £30m this year, making it the fastest growing privately owned publishing company in the UK. Initially, we were not looking to sell the business. However, we were approached by Richard Johnson, CEO of Bonnier Publishing, who proposed a mix of companies that would be of mutual benefit and would enable us to become an even bigger player in the industry, while allowing us to keep hold of our unique business culture and band identity.” “Having the global infrastructure, clout and support of a company with Bonnier Publishing’s track record is a real added advantage and will certainly fast-track our growth. The fact that it will very much be business as usual for me and my team at Igloo Books was a key factor in the closure of the deal and we’re all very excited about what the future holds”. “Friday Legal Solicitors, who have a great deal of experience in transactions of this nature, helped us through the process and led the negotiations and the mountains of document production throughout. Douglas Iles and Duncan Crowther kept the process on track, on time and within budget and enabled me to continue the day to day operations of the Business during this hectic time”. Richard Johnson, CEO of Bonnier Publishing said: “Earlier this summer I set out the goal of doubling our annual turnover, taking it from £55m to £100m by 2016. My aim was to do this by means of both organic growth and acquisition. Igloo Books stood out immediately as a company we could do business with. It shares many of the same cultural and commercial values as Bonnier and is as ambitious and focused on achieving fast growth as we are.” He continued: “Through this acquisition we will become the dominant force in UK children’s mass market publishing and we intend to invest heavily in John’s plans for Igloo Books moving forwards.” Douglas Iles of Friday Legal stated: “Company sales and purchases are our speciality at Friday Legal Solicitors and it is the workthat we most enjoy dealing with for our clients, this transaction led to a 150 page sales agreement and over forty ancillary legal documents, the disclosure and due diligence process was managed using our sophisticated on line system and because of our resources and experience we were able to achieve all of our clients objectives in a stress free and collaborative manner which allowed our clients to focus on the business of their Company”. Friday Legal Solicitors can be contacted on 01536 218888 or by e mail to .
