Egmont UK has acquired the rights to publish all new titles from Australian children's publisher Little Hare in the UK market.
Little Hare's list includes authors and illustrators such as David Bedford, Jan Ormerod and recent Greenaway winner Freya Blackwood. The list publishes around 30 new titles a year and covers picture books and young fiction.
Egmont will publish its first seven Little Hare titles this autumn and will retain the Little Hare name. The titles will include two books from the Brigid Lucy series by Leonie Norrington and Tamsin Ainslie, illustrated counting book The House of 12 Bunnies and An A to Z of Pirates.
Egmont group sales director Gillian Laskier said the two companies' picture books and fiction titles were "complementary". She added: "Little Hare's distribution is more into independents and they have a lot of hardbacks." Egmont will publish all Little Hare's 30 new titles in the UK next year and may publish some of its backlist titles towards the end of 2012.
Laskier said: "It's a bit of a departure for us and an interesting and exciting one. We are always open to other opportunities."