Stationers' Company to host mergers and acquisitions roundtable

The Stationers’ Company is to host a roundtable at Stationers' Hall to discuss mergers and acquisitions in the publishing industry, with speakers including a partner at US-based Platinum Equity.

Other speakers are William Mellis, customer growth practise managing director for professional services provider Alvarez & Marsal, and Lorna Tilbian, executive director of stockbroker and corporate adviser Numis Securities.

The roundtable will take place on 11 July at 6.30pm.

Tony Mash, chairman of the Stationers’ Company Industry Committee, said: “What inspired us for this event was the sale of the Financial Times to Japanese company Nikkei for what seemed at the time to be an awful lot of money.

“Bearing in mind that the world of newspapers is a difficult world to be in, it occurred to us that there was an opportunity to get some people from the finance industry who are close to newspapers to discuss how you value companies for mergers and acquisitions and what the current atmosphere is."

Mash said the roundtable follows on from a number of events focusing on digital technology and its impacts across paper, print and advertising. It will last for an hour and a half, and will be followed by a drinks reception and buffet dinner.

Other recent roundtables at the company, which are held once a month, include discussions on the impact of free speech on newspapers and how office supply companies can deal with the strengths of companies such as Amazon.

In September, the Stationers’ Company will be inviting Vint Cerf, a “father of the internet” and Google technical guru, to discuss over-reliance on digital media. 

Mash added: “When we have these evenings they are literally open evenings and everybody is coming from a different perspective. I always find that if you come out of these evenings knowing a bit more about what you knew than when you went in then you can think through situations and be aware of all of its aspects.”

The Company is also hosting its Innovation Awards on June 27.

For more information on the roundtable, visit the Stationers' website.