Bloomsbury’s landmark acquisition of US publisher Rowman & Littlefield for £65 million

The company behind the Harry Potter series has revealed it was its biggest acquisition to date and will make it the leading academic publisher in North America

Bloomsbury publishes Harry Potter titles(no credit)

Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury has acquired the US academic publisher in a deal worth as much as $83 million (£65 million).

The company’s head hailed the acquisition of Rowman & Littlefield as a “revolutionary factor” that will accelerate its foreign expansion. Bloomsbury Publishing is to pay £76 million (£60 million) in cash and up to $7 million (£5 million) in escrow.

The company behind the Harry Potter series has revealed that this was its biggest acquisition to date and will make it the leading academic publisher in North America. Rowman & Littlefield’s top authors cover the academic arts, humanities and social sciences, and the publisher produces thousands of nonfiction books and textbooks in both print and digital formats.

The combined companies will publish almost 100,000 titles in total, Bloomsbury revealed. “This acquisition is a game changer for Bloomsbury,” said Nigel Newton, CEO of Bloomsbury.

He added: “Adding their 40,000 academic titles to ours will make us a significant US academic publisher, increasing Bloomsbury’s academic and digital publishing presence in North America, opening new markets and publishing areas for Bloomsbury, and will be a key milestone in delivering our services long-term strategy growth.”

Bloomsbury, which also publishes cookbooks by celebrity chefs including Tom Kerridge, Gino D’Acampo and Paul Hollywood, recently announced its biggest ever annual profit and sales. Bloomsbury’s profits have been boosted by the success of best-selling authors such as Sarah J. Maas, whose fantasy series have attracted multitudes of readers.

However, its academic and professional divisions failed to keep pace with the consumer industry as sales fell from a year ago. Market watchers have expressed concerns that Bloomsbury could face investor concerns over the lack of a new book by “star author” Maas in the coming financial year.

However, AJ Bell investment analyst Dan Coatsworth highlighted the latest acquisition news as evidence of Bloomsbury’s efforts to expand its range of authors and titles. He said: “Bloomsbury has come a long way since the days when its fortunes were almost entirely tied to the Harry Potter franchise, and today’s acquisition of the US academic publisher accelerates the company’s diversification strategy.”