Castle Harlan to Buy Baker & Taylor

-- Publishers Weekly, 5/11/2006

A little less than three years after acquring Baker & Taylor for $255 million, the private equity firm Willis Stein has agreed to sell the nation’s second largest book wholesaler to another equity group, Castle Harlan, for $455 million. The deal, set to close later this year, is unlikely to result in any dramatic changes at the company. Richard Willis, who has led B&T over the last several years, will remain president and CEO, and the rest of his senior management team is also expected to remain in place. B&T has been rumored to be for sale for months, though executives had repeatedly denied they were shopping the company.

Since it acquired B&T in summer of 2003, Willis Stein has made a number of niche purchases to augment B&T’s operations. Its most recent purchase was of the U.K. company Delta International Book Wholesalers. Previously, B&T bought the Spanish-language distributor Libros Sin Fronteras and J.A. Majors, a distributor of STM materials.

Castle Harlan has a variety of holdings, though nothing in the distribution or publishing fields.

This article originally appeared in the May 11, 2006 issue of PW Daily. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

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