Gleiss Lutz advised Bertelsmann AG together with its alliance partners, Herbert Smith und Stibbe, on the sale of the book club business in England and the Netherlands.
In July 2008, Bertelsmann AG announced that it was selling its DirectGroup business in Great Britain and the Benelux countries. In order to implement this decision, DirectGroup Benelux was first sold to a Dutch investor on December 15, 2008. With effect as at January 1, 2009, a German investor purchased the British club “Book Club Associates (BCA)”.
Gleiss Lutz was the lead advisor of Bertelsmann AG during the entire sales process. Its team consisted of Dr. Rainer Loges, Dr. Alexander Schwarz (lead partners, both corporate/M&A, Munich/Frankfurt) as well as Dr. Barbara Jagersberger and Roland Sterr (both corporate/M&A, Munich). At Herbert Smith, the process was handled by, inter alia, Gavin Davies and James Milne (both London); at Stibbe, Maarten Sanders and Christian van Megchelen (both Amsterdam) were in charge of the project.
DirectGroup Bertelsmann has media clubs, bookstores and an Internet presence in numerous countries. Besides “Der Club” in Germany, the most well-known clubs include “France Loisirs” in France and “Círculo de Lectores” in Spain. DirectGroup is headquartered in Gütersloh.
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