At the end of January, the Little, Brown Book Group, part of Hachette UK, purchased Constable & Robinson.  Founded in 1795, Constable & Robinson has an outstanding reputation as a publisher of psychology and self-help and the well-respected How to and Right Way titles.  This 100% shareholding purchase will see Constable & Robinson remain intact as a distinct division within the Little, Brown Book Group.

On 25 March Hodder & Stoughton, a separate part of Hachette UK, announced its intention to purchase Quercus Publishing  plc, the Stock exchange listed publisher of the hugely successful Millennium series by Stieg Larsson, amongst many others.  The full offer, made under the UK Takeover code, of £12.6m means Quercus shareholders will receive 60p per Quercus share.

On these purchases Tim Hely Hutchinson, CEO of Hachette UK said, “There is a great fit in our publishing and we are excited at the prospect of working with Constable & Robinson’s authors to continue building their sales and developing their profiles in the UK and internationally. 

"My colleagues at Hodder and I greatly admire what has been achieved at Quercus in a relatively short time. If our offer is successful, Quercus will become a distinct division within our company and will benefit from Hachette UK Group's funding resources and sales reach to secure a very bright future for the Quercus Group."

Paul Harding, who led both transactions, comments, "We are pleased to have assisted Hachette with these two very important strategic transactions which help the Group consolidate its position as one of the UK;'s largest publishers.  Clyde & Co has represented Hachette in a number of acquisitions over the last 10 years and these two purchases will fit well into the Group's portfolio."

Clyde & Co's team was led by Paul Harding, assisted by Vicki Abberton, Hannah Doherty, Faisal Buali and Ayesha O'Connor. The employment work was done by Nick Elwell-Sutton, with Alex Watt looking after the property aspects.