Times Media Group says it has entered into an agreement to dispose of two of its book retail chains, namely,\u00a0Exclusive Books and\u00a0The Van Schaik Group of Companies.<\/p>\n
The buyers, a\u00a0consortium led by Medu Capital, will acquire the two\u00a0companies for a total of\u00a0R435 million, payable in cash and consisting of:<\/p>\n
Medu Capital would purchase\u00a0100% of the business, assets and liabilities of Van Schaik Bookstores, 69.98% of the\u00a0shares and 100% of the claims in Bookmark, and 70% of the\u00a0shares and 100% of the claims in Van Schaik Namibia.<\/p>\n
It would also acquire 100% of the business, assets and liabilities of Exclusive Books and 40% of the shares and\u00a0100% of the claims in Airport Bookshop Proprietary, collectively known as Exclusive Books.<\/p>\n
The Van Schaik Group of Companies are the leading suppliers of academic and reference
\ntextbooks in South Africa and Namibia, while Exclusive Books is one of South Africa’s largest book\u00a0chains with branches throughout South Africa.<\/p>\n
Times Media has identified the two operations “as non-core as they were not aligned to the\u00a0strategic direction of\u00a0Times Media”.<\/p>\n
The proceeds of the disposal will be used to reduce Times Media’s gearing and for potential future acquisitions aligned to the group’s core business.<\/p>\n
Times Media said in March, in reporting results for the six months ended December 2012,\u00a0that segmental profit from operations before exceptional items for its books division improved to R36 million, from R13 million before.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month (September), the\u00a0Competition Commission<\/a>\u00a0blocked the acquisition of\u00a0Juta Bookshops<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Van Schaik Booksellers<\/a>, a division of\u00a0Times Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Commission found that the proposed merger is likely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in the market for academic books.<\/p>\n Juta is a wholly owned subsidiary of listed group,Kagiso Media<\/a>\u00a0and claims to be\u00a0the largest local publisher of quality student textbooks in the fields of commerce, accounting, communications, social science, health, education and the law.<\/p>\n Commission blocks textbook reseller deal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore news on Times Media and Exclusive Books<\/h3>\n