Expanding its international operations, Toronto-based Harlequin Enterprises Limited has signed a deal to acquire full ownership of its German publishing business, CORA Verlag, from Axel Springer Verlag, pending German regulatory approval. Harlequin and Axel Springer have been joint venture partners in Germany since 1976.
"We are delighted to acquire the other half of our successful German business," says Donna Hayes, Harlequin's CEO and Publisher. "In 2009, we sold over 10 million books in Germany, and we are very excited about the business moving forward."
Harlequin's team in Germany will remain in place under the new ownership structure, according to the romance publisher, and printing, editing and translations of all titles will continue to take place in the central European country. Harlequin publishes approximately 700 titles a year in Germany, includes series romance novels, nonfiction titles, tele-novellas (thematically linked books based on German television series) and its trade paperback program, which publishes books by New York Times best-selling authors under the MIRA Books imprint.