Bastei Lübbe AG: Bastei Lübbe AG and J.P. Bachem establish Corporate Publishing Company

Cologne, 11 June 2019. The German publishing houses Bastei Lübbe AG and Claus Bachem jointly founded the J.P. Bachem Editionen GmbH as of 1 June 2019. The new company takes over the existing corporate publishing business of J.P. Bachem Verlag and expands it as a full-service agency for industry and business clients, associations and institutions. A sales cooperation agreement supports the joint activities.

Bastei Lübbe holds 75 % and J.P. Bachem 25 % of the shares in the new company. Claus Bachem takes over the management responsibility for the publishing business, Mathias Siebel will be responsible for the back-office activities as co-managing director, in addition to his position as publishing manager for children's and youth books at Bastei Lübbe.

The Bachem publishing house looks back on 200 years of company history, which started on 4 May 1818 in Cologne's Hohe Strasse. Today, the publishing portfolio focuses on children's books, travel and leisure as well as architecture and history. Bastei Lübbe is one of the largest German publishing houses with a broad product portfolio in the fields of entertainment and information.

Publisher Claus Bachem knows from experience: "Targeted media products are ideal for successful branding, marketing, corporate identity development and CRM measures as benefits, incentives or sales articles. We know what's going down and we have the publishing know-how for a high-quality, fast, cost-effective and, above all, tailor-made implementation".

"J.P. Bachem Editionen starts with a team of experienced specialists and a significant order backlog. This puts us in an ideal starting position. Equipped with the infrastructure and opportunities of a large publishing house with its own sound studios, the new company can offer highly flexible print, digital or audio products; from give-aways in the cent area to a premium jubilee book in gold and leather. Our broad network of authors, illustrators and photographers covers practically all conceivable tasks for our customers nationally and internationally," adds Mathias Siebel.

Carel Halff, CEO of Bastei Lübbe, is pleased about the new partnership: "Two traditional Cologne publishers are pooling their many years of experience under one roof and from now on will be demonstrating their expertise in good entertainment together".

The new company is headquartered in the Bachemhaus in Cologne.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:

Bastei Lübbe AG is a German publishing house with headquarters in Cologne specialised in the publication of books, audio books and e-books with fiction and popular science content. The company's core business also includes the periodically published puzzle magazines and novel magazines. With its total of twelve publishing houses and imprints, the Bastei Lübbe group of companies currently offers around 3,600 titles in the areas of fiction, non-fiction as well as books for children and young adults. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction books, the company has been one of the market leaders in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is an engine for innovation in the area of digital media and distribution channels, among other things by the production of thousands of audio and eBooks. This includes the stake in the renowned game publisher "Daedalic Entertainment".

With annual sales of approx. 107 million euros (financial year 2017/2018), 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