ePublishing firm SPS in talks for sale: Report
While the growth of eBooks in trade publishing may have plateaued, in academic publishing, it seems, ebooks still has some power. In a recent development, Scientific Publishing Services (SPS), a part of the Springer Nature group of Germany, is in talks for a deal with Philippines-headquartered SPi Global, with other players like Infosys and Wipro showing serious interest.
29 May 2019 | 8648 Views | By PrintWeek India
SPS operates a 3,500 seat ePublishing services operations, with Chennai being its largest market, followed by Trichy, 350-km south of Chennai. It also has a small presence in Bengaluru.
The company provides end-to-end services for ePublishers and counts its parent Springer Nature, Wiley and Hindavi, among others, as its clients. SPS ended the fiscal with revenues of nearly Rs 250 crore and net profits of Rs 85-crore.
A news report published in The Time of India quoted R Balasubramanian, CEO of SPS as saying that talks are on with several companies, including SPi Global, Infosys and Wipro.
The German parent — Springer Nature — holds 90% stake in SPS while the original founders, Wasani and family have the rest.
The report said the transaction, directly handled from Berlin, could consummate in two to three months if the present momentum continues.
Springer Nature is an academic and educational publisher based out of Berlin and with annual revenues of more than USD 1.7-billion and employs more than 13,000 people.
SPi Global, fully owned by PE firm Partners Group, is an active player in the ePublishing space, with a large India presence, with centres in Puducherry, Chennai and Noida.
(Courtesy TOI)