Business News

Bertelsmann Welcomes Clearance of Penguin Random House by ACCC in Australia

Thursday 14. March 2013 - Another approval without restrictions

Closing as soon as all official approvals have been received
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 Group’s publishing units in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, as well as Penguin’s operations in China and Random House’s publishers in Spain and Latin America.