CHARLOTTE, N.C. - December 7, 2009 - Baker & Taylor Inc. today announced it has acquired Blackwell Book Services North America (BNA) and Blackwell's Australia-based James Bennett bookseller.
Also as part of the deal, Blackwell U.K. will acquire Baker & Taylor's Lindsay and Croft business in the U.K.
"Our organizations share a passion for bookselling, a rich history and a reputation for superior customer service," said Tom Morgan, CEO of Baker & Taylor. "With our collective knowledge and breadth of scholarly inventory and value-added services, academic libraries around the world will be extremely well served."
The combination of Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services and Blackwell's North American and Australian businesses brings together the world's most respected and trusted academic and research library service providers. The shared commitment to service through partnerships with libraries, consortia and suppliers, coupled with outstanding reputations for professionalism, knowledge and integrity, will allow the expanded U.S.-based YBP Library Services to better meet the rapidly evolving information and workflow needs of academic libraries around the globe for years to come.
In addition to the acquisitions, Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services and Blackwell U.K. have entered into a strategic sourcing agreement under which YBP Library Services will source all U.K.-published academic material from Blackwell U.K., and Blackwell U.K. will source all U.S.-published academic material from YBP Library Services. This agreement will enable both businesses to offer their respective customers all over the globe the largest and most in-depth supply of scholarly materials.
Andrew Hutchings, Group CEO of Blackwell, said, "I am confident that this reciprocal agreement will enable Blackwell and YBP Library Services to build on their respective strengths and continue to deliver the high quality services that academic libraries around the world require."
With this acquisition, Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services will continue to offer the collection development and workflow services - print and electronic approval plans, firm and rush orders, continuations and technical services - that customers have relied on for years.
Additional services that were previously unique to one provider, such as Blackwell's Table of Contents Catalog Enrichment Service or YBP Library Services' GOBI 3 bibliographic service, will soon be offered to all customers. By combining mutual best practices, the companies can provide a superior level of customer service that was never before possible.
About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is a global information and entertainment services company that offers print and digital books and entertainment products along with value-added services to libraries, educational institutions and retailers. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company has been in existence for more than 180 years, developing long-term relationships with major suppliers, including book publishers, movie studios and music labels. Baker & Taylor maintains one of the largest combined in-stock book, video and music inventories in the United States, and services the broadest customer base in the industry. Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.
About YBP Library Services
YBP Library Services, a Baker & Taylor company, provides books and supporting collection management and technical services to academic, research and special libraries in North America and around the world. GOBI 3, YBP Library Services' online, interactive bibliographic information service, provides access to 3 million titles in an English language database. YBP Library Services' headquarters are in Contoocook, N.H. For more on the company, go to www.ybp.com.
About Blackwell Limited
Blackwell U.K. Limited is a leading supplier of academic books and bibliographic support to academic and research libraries in the U.K., Europe and Africa. It is also the leading academic bookseller in the U.K. with 44 shops in retail centers and on university campuses and an online bookshop (www.blackwell.co.uk). Now in its 130 th year of trading, Blackwell, a privately owned family business, has built an international reputation for bookselling excellence. Houtschild, the Netherlands-based specialist supplier of European and U.K. titles to the European market is also part of the Blackwell Group.
