De Gruyter and Brill jointly announce they have reached agreement to form De Gruyter Brill through a recommended all-cash public offer by De Gruyter for all Brill securities at an offer price of EUR 27.50 per security (cum dividend), representing a total consideration of approx. EUR 51.5 million.
The transaction creates the leading academic publisher in the Humanities and presents a unique opportunity to accelerate organic growth and achieve necessary scale. With pro forma combined revenues of around EUR 134 million and 750 employees, De Gruyter Brill will be well-positioned to offer the best possible service and infrastructure to its communities, jointly publishing well over 3,500 books and 800 journals per year.
The enlarged scale will accelerate the transition to new business models such as open access and finance investments in technology for end-to-end workflows and a state-of-the-art market-facing (content) platform. It will enable the company to further improve the author experience as well as services to libraries and institutions worldwide, better face market challenges, allow more effective sales and marketing, and increase the ability to attract and retain talent. The strategic rationale is underpinned by both companies’ complementary publishing programs and similar cultural values. De Gruyter and Brill are deeply rooted in the academic community, with long traditions and a shared commitment to publishing excellent research as trusted partners of scholars.
The combination of two centuries-old publishing houses will be branded De Gruyter Brill, signaling the importance of the strong heritage and family background of both companies. Upon the closing of the transaction, De Gruyter Brill headquarters will be in Berlin, Germany, while Brill’s office in Leiden, the Netherlands, will be the second largest office of the new combination and will continue to have material substance, both in number of people and in terms of responsibilities. De Gruyter’s shareholders are dedicated to ensuring the new combination stays independent for many more centuries to come.
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