The Bookseller’s Philip Jones reports on Nordic media group Egmont‘s move to consolidate its position in Denmark with the acquisition of Bonnier Forlagene through its Danish subsidiary Aschehoug. The move brings together Denmark’s second and third largest publishing businesses: the new group will be renamed Lindhardt & Ringhof. The two media groups have also announced the merger of their Norwegian publishing businesses Damm and Cappelen to form a new publishing group, Cappelen Damm. The new publisher will be owned equally by Bonnier Books and Egmont.
“We are making publishing history today, this being the most momentous change the Danish book business has seen in years,” said Egmont managing director Annette Wad, will head up the new company Lindhardt & Ringhof. “We want to be Denmark’s most dynamic publishing house when it comes to new ideas for specific titles as well as to marketing initiatives. We plan to boost our collaboration with authors and develop ideas with them. The new publishing house embraces a galaxy of many small editorial units with different specialties. This means we can be big while also retaining the intimacy of the small department and the specialist expertise it offers authors.”