Ingram Content Group Agrees to Purchase Perseus' Client Services Business
NASHVILLE, Tenn. and NEW YORK – March 4, 2016 — The Perseus Books Group and Ingram Content Group announced that the two companies have entered into a binding agreement to sell Perseus’ client services business to Ingram.
“We are delighted to be welcoming new colleagues from Perseus and publisher clients from Perseus distribution to Ingram Content Group,” comments John Ingram, Chairman and CEO, Ingram Content Group. “Perseus’ distribution companies Publishers Group West (PGW), Consortium, Perseus Distribution and Legato have built strong businesses with solid reputations."
He continues, "We’re pleased about the opportunity to combine them with our own publisher services group, Ingram Publisher Services, to build an even better company for our industry. This acquisition supports Ingram’s transformation to a more comprehensive provider of global publisher services with a compelling offering in physical and digital distribution. The talented people at Perseus have created a company known for its service, and we’re thrilled to be adding them to our team.”
Perseus Books President and CEO David Steinberger notes, “The commitment to independent publishers enabled our people to build the industry’s leading client services business." He continues, "So we are very pleased to have found such a good long-term home for that business with Ingram, a company with a longstanding reputation for excellence.”
Quinn Morgan, co-founder and managing director of Centre Lane Partners, explains, “The Perseus client service business is a growing and successful business." Morgan continues, “We are pleased to announce the transaction with Ingram which is a leader in providing services to publishers around the world.”
Ingram and Perseus’ client service businesses will together form a comprehensive print and digital distribution services provider to independent publishers with more than 600 publisher clients. Perseus Distribution is comprised of four publisher services brands: Publishers Group West (PGW), Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Perseus Distribution Services and Legato Publishers Group. And, in addition, Perseus serves University presses through Perseus Academic, international publishers via a joint venture with Faber Factory, and has Constellation, a digital asset management and distribution service.
Ingram will add Perseus Distribution’s Jackson, Tenn., facility to its physical and print-on-demand logistics network. Ingram’s comprehensive services for independent publishers, with its wide range of physical, digital and print-on-demand solutions, will create a premier global services offering for publishers. Perseus clients include such leading independent publishers as Grove Atlantic, New World Library, Harvard Business Review Press, Princeton University Press, Highlights Press and City Lights Publishing.
The transaction will close once certain closing conditions are met, expected to be at the end of March. On March 1, Perseus announced that it had signed a binding agreement to sell its publishing business to Hachette. That transaction is also expected to close at the end of March.
“It is gratifying to have achieved such a positive result for Perseus Books and all its stakeholders,” relays Gregory Miller, managing director and head of media for Greenhill & Co., which is serving as financial advisor to Perseus Books. “We look forward to a smooth closing process for both this transaction and the sale of Perseus’ publishing business to Hachette.”
About Ingram
Ingram Content Group is a subsidiary of Nashville-based Ingram Industries. The company got its start in 1964 as a textbook depository and has since grown and transformed into a comprehensive publishing industry services company that offers numerous solutions, including physical book distribution, print-on-demand and digital services. Committed to the success of its partners, Ingram works closely with publishers, retailers, libraries and schools around the world to provide them with the right products and services to help them succeed in the dynamic and increasingly complex world of content publishing. Ingram's operating units are Ingram Book Co., Lightning Source, VitalSource Technologies, Ingram Periodicals, Ingram International, Ingram Library Services, Spring Arbor Distributors, Ingram Publisher Services, Tennessee Book Co. and ICG Ventures.
About Perseus Books Group
The Perseus Books Group’s mission is to enable independent book publishers to reach their potential, whether those publishers are Perseus-owned, joint ventures or owned by third parties. Perseus publishing imprints include Avalon Travel, Basic Books, Basic Civitas, Da Capo Press, Da Capo Lifelong Books, PublicAffairs, Running Press, Seal Press, and Westview Press, as well as partnerships with The Economist, The Nation Institute, and The Weinstein Company. Through Consortium, Perseus Distribution, Publishers Group West, and Legato Publishers Group, as well as through its Constellation digital service offering, which also supports Faber Factory Powered by Constellation, the Perseus Books Group is the leading provider of sales, marketing, distribution, and digital services, serving 600 independent publishers.
Source: Ingram.
