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Candover and Cinven to acquire BertelsmannSpringer for E1.05bn

Candover and Cinven are to acquire the scientific publishing arm of German Bertelsmann for in excess of E1bn. The two private equity firms outbid rival groups including Blackstone and CVC, as well as Apax Partners and Taylor Francis, the UK academic publisher.

Candover and Cinven intend to merge BertelsmannSpringer with Kluwer Academic Publishers (KAP) to create the second largest scientific publisher in the world, with total revenues of around E880m. Candover and Cinven acquired KAP in January this year in a transaction worth E600m. The newly merged entity will be renamed Springer.

‘BertelsmannSpringer has been a highly sought after asset,' said Simon Leefe, director of Candover. ‘It is a very attractive international business, with a strong reputation in European publishing. Merging it with KAP is the logical step to realising our vision of creating a world class player in the STM publishing sector.'

The two private equity firms will invest from the E4.4bn third Cinven fund and the £2.7bn Candover 2001 Fund respectively, for equal stakes in the company. Senior debt, mezzanine, and working capital facilities have been provided by Barclays Capital.

Bertelsmann is likely to use the proceeds to reduce the E2.7bn of debt accrued largely as the result of a E2.3bn acquisition of US record label Zomba last year.

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