PW: NTC/Contemporary Buying Masters

Mark Pattis, NTC/Contemporary president and CEO, said the acquisition was part of his company's growth strategy. "Like our acquisition last month of Lowell House, it is a perfect fit with our orientation toward specialized backlist publishing." The plan is to place Masters's sports list under the Contemporary imprint, and move the operation to NTC's Lincolnwood, Ill., headquarters.

Masters, with about 150 titles in print, and 40 new titles a year, publishes books on all major sports, ranging from instructional manuals to celebrity biographies.

NTC/Contemporary is part of the Tribune Education group.