The Bookseller reports that the senior managers of PFD, a literary agency based in London with offices in New York, have told their parent company CSS Stellar that they will not support the sale of the firm to a third party. CSS is reported to be in negotiations over an 8m pound sale of the rights arm to licensing company Chorion, as part of a range of measures aimed at addressing investor concerns, and what galls the PFD brass so much is that CSS never told shareholders that PFD’s 14-strong management team – which is believed to include literary agents Caroline Dawnay, Simon Trewin, Robert Kirby, Charles Walker and Rosemary Cantor – is trying to launch a 4 million pound buyout of the firm.
St John Donald and Maureen Vincent, joint chairs of PFD, said in a statement: “We have had confirmation that one of the companies reported to be interested in PFD will not proceed in talks with CSS Stellar unless PFD’s management and all principal agents support its approach. We have made it clear to CSS Stellar that our board and all principal agents are committed to the management buy-out of the firm.”