Rotkreuz, Switzerland – Nov. 6, 2015. Following the previous news relating to the purchase of the assets of 3M's Library Systems North American business, bibliotheca is delighted to today announce that their shareholders, One Equity Partners VI, L.P., a fund advised by One Equity Partners (OEP), concluded the purchase of the assets for the majority of 3M's Library Systems remaining International business.
OEP will now combine bibliotheca and the former 3M Library Systems business units into a single organization and will commence plans to transition all into a single bibliotheca brand. The new bibliotheca group is committed to continued investment in products and staff and will continue to expand into new regions with innovation-led products.
Dr. Simon Plankenhorn, bibliotheca's newly appointed CEO commented: "We are delighted that we have been able to continue the integration today of the former 3M Library Systems business into the new bibliotheca group. Our investors have worked hard to bring this new team together, demonstrating the strong commitment to the library market. Our customers, both existing and new, will continue to see substantial investment in our library solutions, with a specific focus on providing a seamless patron experience, both physically and digitally."
bibliotheca today also confirmed that both Matt Tempelis, who previously led Library Systems at 3M, and Matthew Bellamy have joined the new bibliotheca group in senior positions on the Executive Committee. Matt Tempelis, who becomes President of Americas, will now be responsible for the North and South American business and Matthew Bellamy will focus on global commercial alignment in his new role as Chief Commercial Officer. Additionally, bibliotheca confirmed that almost all of the former 3M Library Systems dedicated staff have decided to join the new bibliotheca group, including the entire former management team.
Dr. Simon Plankenhorn added "I am very pleased that the new bibliotheca team is fully committed to the vision of helping our customers to build libraries of the future. By combining the ‘best of both worlds,' we will be able to offer comprehensive, reliable and innovative solutions that are fully focused on the needs of libraries and their communities."
bibliotheca will commence with integration plans, which will see previous 3M libraries become bibliotheca customers. In addition, the harmonization of the two product ranges will, for the first time, allow the company to provide libraries with greater access to digital content, drive a more enhanced and engaging patron experience and provide greater access to the library than ever before. The new group has already commenced work to combine the best of both worlds in terms of their award-winning self-checkout software and are excited about the opportunity to enhance further the Electromagnetic Tattle-Tape security systems, which will become a lead product in the global portfolio.
About the "new" bibliotheca
bibliotheca is dedicated to the development of solutions that help sustain and grow libraries around the world. Our products are designed to provide a welcoming, intuitive and seamless environment for those that use the library – wherever they choose to use it – be that at home, on the move or within the library itself. We have direct operational offices in all major continents, together with dedicated distributors who offer our solutions across a further 70 countries. We are proud to have over 30,000 unique libraries as part of our family, with a deployed equipment range in excess of 10,000 individual self-service units, 6,000 security systems and over 650 automated materials handling (sorter) systems. In addition, our digital platform features content from over 1,000 publishers and is available through almost 3,000 libraries.
bibliotheca is financially backed by One Equity Partners VI, L.P. For more information about bibliotheca, see www.bibliotheca.com.
