Mergers & Acquisitions

As large educational publishers struggle to keep up with the rapid changes in both the K-12 and higher education markets, McGraw-Hill and Cengage have agreed to merge in deal that will create a $3.2 billion learning company.

Peter Schaefer, a principal at New Direction Partners, and Mark Michelson, editor-in-chief of Printing Impressions, predict how the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Div., will rule on the pending acquisition of LSC by Quad. They also discuss — assuming the deal gets finalized — how it will ultimately impact the book printing landscape.

The purchase adds 1,050 curriculum-aligned books for children in grades PreK-8 to Jump!'s list of nonfiction children's works for reluctant and emergent readers.

Arcadia Publishing has agreed to acquire a “significant” majority interest in the New Orleans–based house Pelican Publishing.

Canadian bargain book wholesaler Book Depot has acquired the Chicago children’s book publisher Kidsbooks, its second purchase of a book publisher in two years.

Mark Smith and Marcus Leaver, two publishing veterans with lots of trans-Atlantic publishing experience, have formed a new U.K.-based company, which has already made the first of what the two said are likely to be several acquisitions.

Less than half of the existing workforce will be rehired should CJK Group ultimately acquire Thomson-Shore’s assets.

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group has added to its list of nautical titles, acquiring McBooks Press of Ithaca, N.Y.

As part of closing its Prima Games imprint, DK has sold Prima’s digital assets to Asteri Holdings, a two-year old company that owns a network of game, entertainment, sports, news, and kids’ websites.

Founder Kirk Howard has sold Dundurn Press, one of Canada's largest independent trade publishing houses, to a group of technology entrepreneurs.