Bengaluru: News Corp said it would buy romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises Ltd from Canadian newspaper company Torstar Corp to boost its non-English book publishing.
News Corp’s HarperCollins book publishing unit will be the new home of Harlequin, a publisher of novels aimed at women with titles such as My Fair Billionaire and Expecting the CEO’s Child.
Torstar, owner of the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper by circulation, said it was selling Harlequin for C$455 million (Dh1.5 billion, $415 million) in cash.
“Harlequin is a perfect fit for the new News Corp, vastly expanding our digital platform, extending our reach across borders and languages, and is expected to provide an immediate lift to earnings,” said News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson.
Harlequin, owner of the brand Mills & Boon, says it publishes more than 110 titles a month in 34 languages across six continents.
It has published more than 6 billion books since it was founded in 1949 and has in recent years moved into ebooks, downloadable audio and smartphone apps.
Immediate foothold
About 40 per cent of Harlequin’s revenue come from books published in languages other than English, while 99 per cent of HarperCollins books are published in English.
“Harlequin will give HarperCollins an immediate foothold in 11 new countries from which we can expand into dozens of foreign languages,” HarperCollins Chief Executive Brian Murray said.
HarperCollins said Harlequin will remain based in Toronto.
Torstar, almost a quarter owned by Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, said it would use a portion of the net proceeds to repay debt and invest the rest.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2014.
News Corp shares closed up 1.65 per cent at $17.30 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
Torstar Corp’s shares closed up 2.30 per cent at C$6.68 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.
