DGAP-News: Bastei Lübbe AG / Key word(s): Mergers & Acquisitions 
Bastei Lübbe AG acquires 'smarticular' publishing house and sustainability 
platform 
 
2020-12-22 / 18:13 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
*Bastei Lübbe AG acquires "smarticular" publishing house and sustainability 
platform* 
 
· Expansion of core business with innovative publishing and community 
model 
 
· Perfect complement to the existing portfolio of non-fiction and 
guidebooks 
 
· Further development and expansion of offerings on societally relevant 
topics 
 
Cologne, 22.12.2020. The Cologne-based trade publisher Bastei Lübbe AG (ISIN 
DE000A1X3YY0), one of the leading German-language publishers, announces the 
complete acquisition of Business Hub Berlin UG. Founded and based in Berlin, 
the company operates the publishing house "smarticular" as well as the 
sustainability platforms www.smarticular.net and www.kostbarenatur.net [1] 
as part of an innovative publishing model. 
 
With its publications, smarticular and its 10-person team support a shift in 
society away from mass consumption and a throwaway society and promote the 
conscious use of resources and mindfulness towards the environment. The 
topics and contents of the books are inspired by the communication with the 
organically grown community of the platforms and thus guarantee a lively 
discussion with the community members as well as an enrichment of the 
variety of topics. With this integrated business model, "smarticular" is 
extremely successful and reaches approximately 3 million people per month. 
Both companies expect significant synergy effects from the joint expansion 
of the guidebook programs. Bastei Lübbe is also expanding its range and 
expertise in the area of sustainability with the acquisition. 
 
"We are delighted to be able to add such a successful company to our 
publishing family. We see the core topic of 'sustainable living' as an 
important enrichment and contemporary expansion of our portfolio. The close 
connection between online and print clearly represents an innovative further 
development of the classic publishing model for us," says Joachim Herbst, 
Spokesman of the Executive Board of Bastei Lübbe AG, explaining the 
acquisition. 
 
The acquisition is to be completed in January 2021 with economic effect as 
of January 1, 2021. 
 
Even after the acquisition, the editorial independence and brand essence of 
"smarticular" will be preserved. The publishing headquarters in Berlin will 
be maintained and the two founders Marco Eder and Sebastian Knecht signed 
multi-year contracts as managing directors. Eder and Knecht will continue to 
be independently responsible for the future direction of the program, thus 
ensuring continuity and quality of content and products. Nevertheless, there 
is agreement that the realization of synergies is possible and will lead to 
positive effects for both companies. In the future, the editorial team at 
"smarticular" will be able to concentrate even more on community development 
and content and further expand the range of online content and books. 
 
"With Bastei Lübbe, we have found a partner that enables us to support our 
young company financially and operationally and offers us development 
opportunities that we would not otherwise have," says Marco Eder. "It was 
important to us that our future partner guarantees our independence: This 
way, we can assure our community members that they will continue to find 
everything they appreciate about 'smarticular' in exactly the same way, and 
can only benefit from the cooperation behind the scenes," adds Sebastian 
Knecht. 
 
Joachim Herbst underlines the intended continuity and the strengthening of 
sustainable topics resulting from the cooperation: "We do not want to change 
anything in the successful model of 'smarticular', but maintain this 
orientation. It was important to us that the management and team remain on 
board, because they stand for the values of the company. Together, we have 
the goal of making these socially relevant topics accessible to an even 
larger target group." 
 
_About Bastei Lübbe AG:_ 
Bastei Lübbe AG is a German publishing house based in Cologne, which 
specializes in the production of books, audio books and eBooks with fiction 
and popular science content. The company's core business also includes 
periodically published novel booklets. With a total of twelve publishing 
houses and imprints, the group of companies currently has around 3,600 
fiction, non-fiction, children's and youth books on offer. In the growing 
segment of hardcover fiction, the company has been one of the market leaders 
in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is an innovation 
driver in the field of digital media and exploitation channels, among other 
things through the production of thousands of audio and eBooks. 
 
_With annual sales of approx. EUR 82 million (financial year 2019/2020), 
Bastei Lübbe AG is one of the largest medium-sized publishing companies in 
Germany. The shares of the company have been listed in the Prime Standard 
segment on the Frankfurt stock exchange (GSIN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0) 
since 2013. Further information is available at www.luebbe.com._ 
 
Contact Bastei Lübbe AG: 
Barbara Fischer 
Head of Press and Public Relations 
Tel.: +49 221 / 82 00 28 50 
E-Mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de 
 
2020-12-22 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a 
service of EQS Group AG. 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
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Archive at www.dgap.de 
Language:    English 
Company:     Bastei Lübbe AG 
             Schanzenstraße 6 - 20 
             51063 Köln 
             Germany 
Phone:       02 21 / 82 00 - 0 
Fax:         02 21 / 82 00 - 1900 
E-mail:      investorrelations@luebbe.de 
Internet:    www.luebbe.de 
ISIN:        DE000A1X3YY0 
WKN:         A1X3YY 
Listed:      Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated 
             Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, 
             Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange 
EQS News ID: 1157071 
 
End of News DGAP News Service 
 
1157071 2020-12-22 
 
 
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2020 12:13 ET (17:13 GMT)