Rival set to swoop on Blackwell's
PUBLISHER Taylor & Francis is poised to make an offer for rival firm Blackwell's. The privately owned Blackwell's is expected to be put up for sale after a family feud erupted among its owners.
The Oxford-based firm claims to be the world's biggest privately held specialist publisher. It is also one of Britain's most valuable private companies - reckoned to be worth at least £500 million. This is more than the stock market value of Taylor & Francis, whose publications range from Annals Of Science and Journal Of Natural History to Philosophical Magazine and a title dealing with eating disorders.
A source at Taylor & Francis said a fit between the two would be 'a marriage made in heaven'. A deal would cover only Blackwell's publishing arm and not the bookshops under the same name.
Taylor & Francis has a bias towards social science publications, while Blackwell's is heavily slanted towards medical journals. It publishes 660 titles a year, which include Artificial Organs and the American Journal Of Economics And Sociology.
The Taylor & Francis source said: 'The nearest match to their business is ours. The mix of the two would be superb. There is no doubt that we would expect to be a front runner for it.'
The dispute at Blackwell's is between the board, headed by Nigel Blackwell, the group's nonexecutive chairman, and Toby Blackwell, his 73-year-old uncle.
Nigel Blackwell is determined to prepare the business for a stock market flotation in 2005, but his uncle wants the company to be put up for sale to a trade buyer.
Toby Blackwell owns 30% of the voting shares in the business and believes he speaks for more than 50% of the total votes.
A simple majority would allow him to oust his nephew along with Rene Olivieri, Blackwell's chief executive.
Meanwhile, Nigel Blackwell has admitted that the board controls at most 45% of voting shares.
The two sides met on Friday evening and a full board meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
Other companies likely to cast an eye over Blackwell's are Wolters Kluwer of the Netherlands, American firm John Wiley & Sons and French group Vivendi.
