Ingram Content Group has acquired the distribution arm of the Perseus Books Group for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition comes on the heels of the sale, earlier this week, of Perseus' publishing division.
Perseus has been looking looking for buyers since last fall. After news broke on Tuesday that Hachette was acquiring the company's publishing arm, it was clear that a sale of the company's distribution business would soon follow. Through this deal, Ingram will bring Perseus' four distribution companies--Publishers Group West (PGW), Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Perseus Distribution and Legato--into its existing publisher services group. Ingram intends to add the Perseus Jackson, Tenn. facility to its existing logistic network.
As John Ingram, CEO of Ingram put it, the deal "supports Ingram's transformation to a more comprehensive provider of global publisher services."
CEO of Perseus, David Steinberger, added that Ingram, as a longstanding book distributor, represented "a good long-term home" for the company's distribution business. The distribution business is estimated to have annual client revenue of about $300 million.
Once Ingram subsumes the Perseus distribution business, it will provide publishing and distribution services for 600 publishers.
The deal is expected to close at the end of March. Once the Hachette and Ingram deals are done, Steinberger will leave Perseus.
