Three acquisitions completed for Welbeck Publishing Group Limited in 2020

Fox Williams advised Welbeck Publishing Group Limited on three acquisition transactions in 2020.

In May 2020, Welbeck completed the acquisition of certain assets of the wellness publisher Eddison Books Limited from administration. The group acquired the assets from the Fisher Company with the intention of fulfilling Eddison’s 2020 publishing programme, working with the company’s scheduled authors, illustrators and partners. The 2021 programme for Eddison will be released under Welbeck’s imprints.

In December 2020, Fox Williams advised Welbeck on the purchase of the backlist of veteran children’s illustrator Robert Ingpen from Palazzo Editions.  The list includes children’s classics such as Peter Pan, Treasure island, The Jungle Book and Wind in the Willows and will form part of the new Welbeck Children’s Classics list. 

Also in December 2020, Fox Williams advised Welbeck on the acquisition of its majority ownership of mental health and wellbeing publisher Trigger Publishing. Mental health books on the list will continue to publish under Trigger, which becomes part of a new wellness imprint called Welbeck Balance.

Corporate partner Mary Elliott led the transactions with support from associate Priya Mattu (corporate). These transactions further add to Fox Williams’ extensive experience in advising independent publishers on the acquisitions of publishing businesses.