Springer sale agreed

The deal is expected to close by February 2010 leaving Springer owners Candover Investments and Cinven to share just about €100m after the sale. This is because Springer’s existing debt pile amounts to a whopping €2.2bn.

Following the completion of the deal, Springer will be owned 82% by EQT while the remaining 18% will be held by the Singaporean co-investor. Following this, Candover and Cinven will exit the business they formed in 2003 through the merger of former’s BertelsmannSpringer with latter’s Kluwer Academic Publishing.

The sale comes just a week after rival publisher Informa ended talks to buy Springer. Informa had been interested in buying Springer but called off talks at the start of December after failing to agree a price.

Previously, Springer had plans to raise up to €500m by selling 49% of the company, but as offers failed to meet its valuations, it decided to sell the company as a whole.

Springer has 60 publishing offices across 20 countries and produces over 2,000 journals and more than 6,500 new book titles every year.