UK-based publishing services provider Mare Nostrum Group has acquired Eurospan, the academic distribution arm of United Independent Distributors (UID), which filed for bankruptcy in late July. According to MNG’s announcement, the company’s offer to buy Eurospan was accepted on July 29 and the deal closed on August 16.
Eurospan has provided distribution services to around 200 academic, professional, scientific and medical publishers for 60 years. The acquisition, says MNG, “will significantly increase both revenue and personnel” while allowing MNG to further enhance its sales and marketing services. MNG’s UK distribution partner Wiley will integrate Eurospan’s publishing clients’ holdings into its Bognor Regis office, from where Eurospan clients will be distributed.
“We are delighted to be able to offer the Eurospan team and its publishing clients a home at the Mare Nostrum Group,” said David Pickering, managing director of MNG, in a statement. “In the past, we have worked with and admired Eurospan, and we have been saddened by their gradual decline and the significant problems this situation has caused for Eurospan publishing clients. With this in mind, we intend to make the transition as smooth and efficient as possible for Eurospan publishers.”
Dane O’Hara, director at Leonard Curtis, which is overseeing UID’s insolvency proceedings, described the sale of Eurospan to MNG as a “positive outcome” for all parties, given the difficult conditions. “We are delighted to have found a home for the Eurospan business and, importantly, for the employees,” he said.
UID, which was acquired by Independent Publishers Group in 2021, was officially placed into receivership on July 24. IPG CEO Joe Matthews acknowledged that despite efforts to restructure the business – which also included Marston Book Services and Orca Book Services – business conditions had not improved sufficiently over the past three years to make UID profitable.
