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Mar 4 – Mar 10, 2013 Edition Penguin Random House Merger Okayed in Australia
NGütersloh, March 8, 2013 The ACCC in Australia will approve the planned combination of Random House and Penguin Group, the book-publishing operations of the two international media companies Bertelsmann and Pearson, without any restrictions. This was announced today by the competent authorities. Bertelsmann and Pearson welcome this ruling as an important step on the path towards completing the planned transaction. They had announced the founding of Penguin Random House last October.
On February 14, 2013 the U.S. Department of Justice had already cleared the planned merger also without restrictions. Meanwhile, the planned transaction is being reviewed by several other antitrust authorities in different parts of the world. Bertelsmann and Pearson can finalize the transaction as soon as all the necessary approvals have been received. The two companies are confident of receiving these approvals over the course of the year. The planned publishing house, in which Bertelsmann will own 53 percent and Pearson 47 percent of shares, will encompass all of Random House and Penguin Groups publishing units in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, as well as Penguins operations in China and Random Houses publishers in Spain and Latin America.
About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is an international media company whose core divisions encompass television (RTL Group), book publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), services (Arvato), and printing (Be Printers) in some 50 countries. In 2011, the companys businesses, with their more than 100,000 employees, generated revenues of 15.3 billion. Bertelsmann stands for a combination of creativity and entrepreneurship that empowers the creation of first-rate media, communications, and service
