Springer sold

["Ann Okerson" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Of Interest:  replaces earlier posting garbled in transmission. 
Ann O.

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Library Journal.com

By Norman Oder 12/11/2009

Springer Group, Second-Leading STM Publisher,
       Sold by/to Private Equity Firms
Sale involves $146 million in cash
       and the transfer of $3.22 billion of debt.

The Berlin-based Springer Group, the world's second-largest STM publisher,
has been sold, six years after it was formed by the purchase and merger of
Bertelsmann Springer and Kluwer Academic by the British private equity
firms Cinven and Candover.

The purchasers are EQT, a Swedish private equity fund, and GIC, a private
fund backed by the Government of Singapore. EQT will own 82% and GIC 18%.

The Times of London put the sale at 2.3 billion Euros ($3.36 billion),
including 100 million Euros ($146 million)  in cash and the assumption of
about 2.2 billion Euros ($3.22 billion) of debt.

High return:  The private equity firms paid about  1.6 billion Euros for
the two components of Springer. The Financial Times reported that the deal
values Springer at about eight times earnings, as with rivals Informa and
Reed Elsevier, and, considering the refinancings that increased the debt,
gave the owners a 29 per cent annual return.

EQT and GIC have agreed to inject new equity into the Springer Group, to
strengthen its balance sheet and decrease the overall cost of funding,
Springer said in a statement. This deal is expected to conclude by early
February 2010.

Growth potential:  "Springer is perfectly positioned in a market where we
see great growth potential. We believe that by working together with the
company and the best-in-class management team under CEO Derk Haank we can
drive both expansion and further development of the successful
e-business," said Marcus Brennecke, Senior Partner at EQT Partners,
advisor to EQT V. "As the number 2 player in the STM sector, Springer is a
great platform for further consolidation and market share growth."

(The leader is Elsevier, part of Reed Elsevier, also the parent company of
Library Journal.)

Derk Haank, Springer's CEO, said, "The Springer Executive Management Team
has had constructive and collegial discussions with EQT. I am confident
that this marks the beginning of a new exciting and successful chapter for
us and for our new partners at EQT and GIC. The sale will allow us to move
our ambitious and ongoing 'e' strategy forward, and to invest more heavily
for our stakeholder's benefit - this is the best solution for the company,
our employees and shareholders."

Springer publishes around 2000 journals and more than 6500 new books a
year, and has the largest STM eBook Collection worldwide. Springer
operates in about 20 countries in Europe, the United States, and Asia. It
has more than 5000 employees. Last year, its annual sales were about 892
million Euros.

(c) 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
Rights Reserved.