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T&F buys to expand in the US

21.08.07 Tom Tivnan

Taylor & Francis Group has acquired two US publishers, Productivity Press and Haworth Press, for undisclosed sums.

The deal for Productivity was finalised last week and the Haworth acquisition is expected to go through in about a month pending regulatory approval.

Roger Horton, T&F c.e.o., said: "These are both bolt-on niche businesses that will integrate very well into the business. We are not in the position of just acquiring to acquire. I am looking for business that add to our core strategy."

Haworth, headquartered in Binghampton, New York State, has a turnover of around $20m a year and publishes about 200 journals and 150 books a year, mainly in the humanities, library studies and social sciences. New York City-based Productivity specialises in business books aimed at improving company performance. It releases about 10-20 titles a year.

Haworth publisher and editor in chief Bill Cohen said that Haworth has joined T&F  in order to compete with major publishers and increase the company's access to libraries through consortia deals. Cohen added: "In order to grow, Haworth needed a consistently creative internet platform that could compete successfully with other platforms of major houses. Informaworld at Taylor & Francis was most attractive in this sense. It is a resplendent hosting service, interweaving core journals along with eBooks, abstract databases, and reference works of historic importance. The stability of a prodigious international publishing house also adds an important dimension in regard to digital permanency."

Cohen will remain at Haworth as a specialist editor and publisher. Haworth's trade fiction imprint, Harrington Park Press, is not included in the deal and will be divested separately.

Productivity Press would not reveal any details about the company or the impact of the deal.

The moves are part of T&F's and parent Informa's strategy to increase its US presence. In October last year it acquired the US academic behavioural sciences publisher Lawrence Erlbaum Associates for a rumoured $70m.

US tom tivnan stm Informa Taylor & Francis

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