This is an announcement that has been expected since the official sale last February of the Humensis group by its owner, the reinsurer Scor.
The latter indicated this Wednesday, October 9, that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the Albin Michel group, one of the two contenders for the takeover of Humensis, until then with the Madrigall group.
Refloated to the tune of 8 million euros in 2022
Humensis, which includes PUF, Que sais-je, L’Observatoire but also schools with the Belin brand distributed by Dilisco, a subsidiary of the Albin Michel group, was recapitalized by Scor to the tune of 8 million euros in 2022, some months before the death of its founder, the director of Scor Denis Kessler.
According to our latest ranking of French publishers, the Humensis group retained 15the place as an editorial entity with a claimed 2023 turnover of nearly 48 million euros, up 4% compared to 2022.
Present in the capital via a historic participation of Flammarion, the Madrigall group, whose subsidiary Union Distribution distributes and distributes Humensis literature brands, was until this announcement in the buyout race. A month ago, it announced the acquisition of another of its broadcast and distributed brands, the Christian Bourgois Group.
Sale completed by December?
The sale of Humensis, which has been discussed since the summer of 2023 and officially launched last February, could be concluded by December, at which time Scor, in difficulty, must present its recovery plan after experiencing deadweight losses ( -300 million euros in the second quarter) and review its strategy for 2026. The postponement of the school reform carried out by the Attal government and whose project must, in addition to being carried by the new government team, still be submitted to the Parliament, did not favor an acceleration of the process.
Requested by Weekly Booksneither Scor nor Albin Michel have shared any comments.
