Quercus was today set to fall into the hands of French group Hachette, which has made a £12.6 million agreed cash offer.
Hachette subsidiary Hodder & Stoughton, publisher of Sir Alex Ferguson’s hit autobiography, already has the backing of 65.7% of Quercus shareholders.
Quercus is the troubled independent book publisher behind Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy.
The 60p-a-share offer is more than double Quercus’s price yesterday but well below its 150p peak in 2011 when Larsson topped the best-seller lists. Quercus put itself up for sale in January after warning of a loss.
Chief executive Mark Smith said then that he wanted to stay but now plans to leave with a £300,000 pay-off. He worked at Hachette subsidiary Orion before founding Quercus in 2004.
Quercus will remain a “distinct division” but will move into Hachette’s offices and there will be job losses.Hachette is Britain’s second-biggest book publisher with annual sales of £100 million.
