Ingram Content Group is buying the distribution operations of Perseus Books Group.
Perseus's distribution business serves 600 publishers and has sales estimated at $300 million a year. Its main components are Publishers Group West, Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Legato Publishers Group, Perseus Distribution, Perseus Academic and Constellation digital services.
Ingram is best known for its warehouse operations, but also has a strong POD program and digital operations and has steadily built up its distribution division, Ingram Publisher Services, which has some 115 clients. Ingram will add Perseus Distribution's Jackson, Tenn., facility to its physical and print-on-demand logistics network.
John Ingram, chairman and CEO of Ingram Content Group, welcomed "new colleagues from Perseus and publisher clients from Perseus distribution to Ingram Content Group" and said that the purchase "supports Ingram's transformation to a more comprehensive provider of global publisher services with a compelling offering in physical and digital distribution. The talented people at Perseus have created a company known for its service, and we're thrilled to be adding them to our team."
Perseus Books president and CEO David Steinberger commented: "The commitment to independent publishers enabled our people to build the industry's leading client services business. So we are very pleased to have found such a good long-term home for that business with Ingram, a company with a longstanding reputation for excellence."
The sale of Perseus's distribution operations to Ingram completes a deal whose roots go back almost two years, when, in June 2014, Perseus announced it was selling the whole company to Hachette, which was going to keep Perseus's publishing business but immediately sell the distribution operations to Ingram. The three-way deal collapsed in August 2014. In September 2015, after it received repeated inquiries, Perseus said it was "exploring" a sale of the company, and this time was using the services of an advisor, Greenhill & Co.
Just this past Tuesday, Perseus and Hachette announced that Hachette is buying Perseus's publishing operations. At the time, Perseus's Steinberger said the company was making "good progress" on a deal to sell its distribution operations.
Steinberger said he will wait until the Hachette and Ingram deals are completed before considering his own plans for the future. He added that looks forward to continuing his role as chairman of the National Book Foundation.
Steinberger joined Perseus in 2004. He was earlier president of the adult trade group and president of corporate strategy and international at HarperCollins, a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton and deputy commissioner for bridges in the New York City government. He has an MBA from Wharton.
Perseus Books Group was founded in 1996 by Frank Pearl and grew steadily through a combination of acquisitions and internal growth. Frank Pearl died in 2012. A year ago, Centre Lane Partners took a controlling interest in Perseus.