The Globe Pequot Publishing Group has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Waterford Press, a leading publisher of folding nature reference guides based in Safety Harbor, Fla. The company publishes more than 1,000 state and regional folding guides on trees, birds, fish, and other wildlife and was founded more than 30 years ago by Jill Kavanagh and her late husband James Kavanagh. The deal is set to close on April 1, at which point Jill Kavanagh will continue in her role as publisher with plans to release more guides.
The purchase is the first acquisition by Globe Pequot since the publisher became a standalone business following the sale of its sister company, Rowman & Littlefield, to Bloomsbury in May. Globe Pequot CEO Jed Lyons said he hopes the Waterford purchase is the first of many niche acquisitions that Globe will make now that it is focused solely on the trade market.
Lyons also noted that Waterford is “an ideal complement” to Globe’s FalconGuides line. Kavanagh pointed to the close relationship between Waterford and the FalconGuides and said that being acquired by Globe “promises an opportunity for growth on a scale that is not possible while remaining an independent publisher.”
Waterford has been a distribution client of National Book Network, the distribution company that is also owned by Lyons, but which will close later this year. All NBN clients are eligible to move to Simon & Schuster, which is taking over the distribution of NBN publishers who choose to join the company September 1.
David Lamb and Susan Reich of Book Advisors LLC represented Waterford Press in the deal.
