Firm Reps Bloomsbury in Complex $83M Acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield’s Academic Publishing Business

June 2024 - HHR advised Bloomsbury Publishing in its carve-out acquisition of the academic imprints and associated titles of Rowman & Littlefield, the leading independent book publisher in the U.S. academic market, for $83 million. It is Bloomsbury's largest acquisition to date.

The highly complex asset carve-out transaction comprises an upfront $76 million cash payment, with a further $7 million held in escrow. Bloomsbury financed the deal with its cash resources and a loan from Lloyds Bank.

The transaction does not include other aspects of Rowman & Littlefield's business, such as its trade publishing arm and its distribution business, which will provide transitional services to the sold academic publishing business.

“This acquisition is a game-changer for Bloomsbury. Rowman & Littlefield is one of the few independent U.S. academic publishers of such scale and it is great that our discussions with Jed Lyons have led to this acquisition. Their 40,000 academic titles added to ours will make us a significant U.S. academic publisher, growing Bloomsbury's academic and digital publishing presence in North America, opening new markets and publishing areas to Bloomsbury, and is a key milestone in our long-term growth strategy," said Nigel Newton, CEO of Bloomsbury.

The deal garnered significant press coverage, including in Law360, MarketWatch, The Standard, The Mirror and The Times.

Headquartered in London, Bloomsbury is a leading independent literary and scholarly publishing house with authors who have won the Nobel, Pulitzer and Booker Prizes, and publishes bestselling author Sarah Maas and the Harry Potter franchise.

Gerold Niggemann led the HHR team, with primary assistance from Devon Pope, Erin DeCecchis and Justin Cohen. Additional members of the team included Carol Remy, Seth Rothman, Andy Braiterman, Shahzeb Lari, Emilio Saiz and Tom Koziel.