Brussels, 30/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has authorised the acquisition of joint control by the investment companies Candover and Cinven of the German-based academic and professional publisher BertelsmannSpringer, subject to certain conditions. With a turnover of EUR 731 million in 2002 and more than 5000 employees, BertelsmannSpringer is active in sixteen countries, publishing more than 700 specialist magazines and 4000 books a year.
Cinven and Candover made a bid of EUR 1.05 bn for the deal, which will lead to a combination of BertelsmannSpringer and the Dutch publisher Kluwer Academic Publishers, acquired by Candover and Cinven in 2002. It will also combine BertelmannSpringer's business with the French professional publisher MediMedia, co-controlled by Cinven. Renamed Springer, with an annual turnover of EUR 880 million, the new entity will be the number two player in the market for scientific, technical and medical after the market leader Elsevier Science. The Commission's investigation showed that the operation would lead to a dominant position on the French market and the two companies have put forward commitments to resolve this. Given the heterogeneity of journals and books published in different scientific disciplines and the heterogeneous nature of these books and journals even if published within a discipline, the Commission found no indications for a collective dominant position of Elsevier Science and the new entity resulting from the merger.