Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier suffered a setback February 21 when British Competition and Consumer Affairs Minister Kim Howells ordered an inquiry into the firm’s intended takeover of American publisher Harcourt General. The purchase was announced last year and immediately criticized by the Association of Research Libraries as having severe repercussions on journal pricing and access to scientific resources.
The British Competition Commission has until May 28 to report its findings to the government, which expressed concern over the merged company’s market power in sci-tech journals. Although German and Irish regulators have approved the transaction, U.S. endorsement is still pending.
Financial analyst Oskar Tijs at Fortis Bank in Amsterdam said in a February 22 Reuters report that the delay might force Reed Elsevier to sell some of its holdings, since the government’s major complaint might be with overseas titles sold to British university libraries.
In possibly related developments, the February 21 De Volkskrant in Amsterdam reported that the company sold its Winkler Prins encyclopedia to Dutch publishing conglomerate PCM this month for an undisclosed amount; and Library Journal Digital for February 19 announced that Reed Elsevier intended to divest Bowker, Bowker U.K., D. W. Thorpe, Marquis Who’s Who, and several National Register Publishing directories. Books in Print, Literary Marketplace, and the American Library Directory will be affected.
Posted February 26, 2001.