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Bloomsbury has bought its second academic press in six months, with the acquisition of Berg Publishers, an independent academic publishing company for £2m. Bloomsbury said the deal strengthened its position in the academic publishing market.
Nigel Newton, chief executive of Bloomsbury, said: "The acquisition of Berg is an important element in our strategy to increase our presence in academic publishing and take advantage of a market that is already benefiting from electronic delivery and print-on-demand. The acquisition of the very fine company that is Berg follows Bloomsbury's announcement on September 5th of the launch of Bloomsbury Academic, headed by Frances Pinter, which will publish academic books in the fields of the humanities and social sciences."
Berg, also known as Oxford International Publishers Limited, was established in 1982 and has 15 employees. It pioneered the concept of fashion theory, said Bloomsbury. Revenue for the year-ended 31 December 2007 was £1.58m. Kathryn Earle, who heads up the business, joined the company in 1993. Earle will continue to manage the company following the acquisition. The company is in the process of creating an online subscription-based resource, the Berg Fashion Library, for fashion students, lecturers and the broader industry. It is scheduled to be launched in 2010.
The acquisition will be partly funded by £1.8m in cash and partly by the issue to the vendors of £199,245 in value of ordinary shares in Bloomsbury. There will also be deferred consideration based on the average revenues for the Berg Fashion Library element of the business in 2014 and 2015 up to a maximum of £1m.