Chile: FNE to look into merger of Spanish-language publishing giants

The Chilean competition authority, the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE), has announced it will investigate the possible effects on the local market of the purchase of Ediciones B publishing house by global giant Penguin Random House.

PRH and its rival Grupo Planeta dominate the editorial market in Latin America, with more than 40 publishing labels between them. In addition to having a portfolio of authors led by Nobel laureates such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, J. M. Coetzee, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Munro, among others, the group will gain important writers from Ediciones B, such as Sarah Lark, John Katzenbach, Patricia Cornwell and P.D. James.

Despite the operation having been carried out in Ediciones B’s home jurisdiction in Spain, the FNE has said it aims to analyze “the effects that the future operation could imply for Chile”. In addition, the agency takes into account that “the concentration to be carried out between the Parties may have an effect on competition in the relevant relevant market.”

Reports from the FNE have informed that both PRH and Ediciones B have already been notified of the impending investigations. Both publishing groups have said their headquarters in Spain will be handling the issue.
Full Content: La Tercera

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