AMALGAMATION: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group has agreed to merge a majority of businesses under Macmillan Science and Education with Springer Science+Business Media (owned by funds advising BC Partners) into a new group that will boast 1.5 billion euros in sales (US $1.75 billion) and 13,000 employees. Holtzbrinck and the BC Partner funds will run the group with the former owning a 53% share.
The deal is expected to close by the middle of the year. A managing partner at BC Partners told Reuters: "The most likely exit will be an IPO. However, that is still at least 2-3 years away."
The press release outlines the assets involved in the transaction. From Macmillan's side, the deal covers Nature Publishing Group (which publishes popular journals Nature and Scientific American) and Macmillan Education, which includes:
- Macmillan Education Language Learning
- Macmillan Education Schools
- Palgrave
Not included in the deal are Macmillan New Ventures, Digital Science and Digital Education (which owns a portfolio of edtech companies like Late Nite Labs) and Macmillan's US higher education businesses.
