| Bonnier Publishing Acquires Templar Publishing |
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BONNIER PUBLISHING, has acquired Templar Publishing, a leading UK children's publisher. The company has 38 employees and projected revenues in 2008 of approximately £17 million.Established in 1978, Templar has become one of the world’s most respected publishers of illustrated children's fiction, novelty and picture books. Earlier this year Templar was recognised by the Independent Publisher’s Guild as UK Children’s Publisher of the Year, and Independent Publisher of the Year. The company has an extensive backlist built over 30 years and sells its products in over 25 languages in more than 50 countries. In 2009 the company will commence publishing in the USA under the Templar name, as an imprint of Candlewick Press. Templar's senior management, including Amanda Wood, Managing Director, who joined the fledgling company 30 years ago, and Ruth Huddleston, Sales and Marketing Director, will continue to run the company. "Templar has grown to a stage where we'd like to have the support and guidance of a company with the depth and breadth of Bonnier behind us to help take us to the next level.. We feel lucky to have found a strategic partner with such great publishing experience, love for our books and empathy for our creative eccentricities" says Amanda Wood. The company is well known for its ground-breaking 'Ology' series, which launched in 2003 with 'Dragonology' and has become a global brand with six core titles in print and over 15 million copies sold to date. This year will see the launch of two new ‘Ology’ titles including 'Spyology' with a first printing of circa 400,000 copies. The company has developed a substantial licensing business around the ‘Ology’ series which includes the licensing of board games, toys, computer games for the Nintendo and Wii platforms and a movie. The ‘Ology’ titles, however, represent only a small part of the output of the company, which publishes over 100 new titles each year. This acquisition continues to strengthen and broaden Bonnier Publishing, which now comprises seven companies including Weldon Owen Publishing in the US, Australia and New Zealand, The Five Mile Press and Brimax in Australia, Autumn Publishing in the UK, and Piccolia in France. "Our acquisition strategy has been to seek high quality children's publishers reaching the global market. At the same time we've also been looking to increase our publishing in the UK -- Templar has enabled us to achieve both these strategic objectives "says Des Higgins, CEO of Bonnier Publishing. Des Higgins comments, "We are excited and honored to have Amanda, Ruth and the rest of Templar's amazingly creative and talented team join Bonnier Publishing – we can't wait to start working with them. We have no intention of interfering in the amazing creativity that makes Templar unique, we do however intend to support the company in the expansion and protection of their business and brands in the future. “ Derek Freeman, who advises Bonnier Publishing commented “We have been actively looking to grow the Group by acquisition for the past two years. Templar’s brilliant creative team and its broad international spread makes it a perfect strategic partner for Bonnier.” Maria Curman, President of Bonnier Books said "Bonnier has a 200-year history in book publishing and I'm confident we'll be able to build on Templar's success to date, leverage their unique expertise in children's publishing and support the company's future growth. Templar is our second major acquisition in the U.K. and fits perfectly within Bonnier Publishing's international group. We see considerable opportunity to leverage synergy and distribution strengths across our various companies". The Bonnier Books business area is part of Bonnier AB which had revenues of US4.5 billion in 2007. Bonnier Books had annual sales of US$900 million.
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