Bangalore-headquartered publishing services company MPS Ltd (formerly Macmillan India Ltd), has entered into a binding membership purchase agreement with the US-based Element, LLC, to acquire its units for around Rs 10 crore ($1.8 million), as per a stock market disclosure. The proposed transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions including regulatory approvals.
The acquisition will enhance MPS’ presence in the educational publishing market in the US.
Earlier, MPS was part of the Macmillan Group, a privately held global publishing firm. However, Delhi-based ADI BPO purchased Macmillan’s stake in MPS in 2011 and currently has management control of the company.
Shares of MPS Ltd were up 1.71 per cent to Rs 130.5 a unit at 12:08 pm on the BSE on Monday, giving the firm a market capitalisation of Rs 219.24 crore.
Based in Orlando, Florida, Element was set up in 2004 and focuses on developing content and educational products for pre-K and K-12 markets. It has expertise in developing turnkey solutions for print and online products, and provides a slew of editorial, designing and production services including project management, editorial management, product conceptualisation, content development, graphic design and art direction, art management and photo research.
MPS currently provides typesetting and data digitisation services for publishers in India, Europe and the US. The company also offers BPO solutions, including subscription management, journal, magazine & book distribution, content aggregation & data mining, and customer services.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)