Springer shapes Ullstein Heyne List

Six months after German newspaper giant Axel Springer announced the acquisition of Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, which it subsequently merged with its existing trade publishing operation Econ Ullstein List, the new group is taking shape, backed by the renewed commitment of its owner.

A new name has been found for the group. The original plan was for the group to be known as Heyne Ullstein, but it is now called Verlagsgruppe Ullstein Heyne List (UHL). Heyne has now moved a few miles down the road from its long-time base in Munich's Türkenstraße to the larger EUL offices.

Rumours that Springer is tired of book publishing and that the trade group is being actively courted by Verlagsgruppe von Holtzbrinck have been denied by Springer, which says it considers books a "strategic long-term investment".

But, even without that assurance from Springer, it is unlikely a sale to the media giant Holtzbrinck would get the go-ahead from the German regulation authorities. Between them the combined paperback activities of UHL and Holtzbrinck, with its imprints Fischer, Rowohlt and Knaur, would own more than 50% of the German trade market.

The friendliness of the takeover meant that the integration of Heyne into Springer has been relatively bloodless, with synergies mainly in administration. Run by Christian Strasser, who has been in charge of Springer's growing publishing activities since 1999, Ullstein Heyne List is now the third-largest German trade publishing group, with combined sales of DM377.1m (£118m) and 24 imprints, aiming at group sales of DM500m (£156m) in the very near future.

Brimming with confidence, Mr Strasser predicts double-digit sales growth for Ullstein Heyne List in 2001 and for at least a few more years to come. With Heyne safely under his belt, the ambitious 55-year-old is now one of the most powerful men in German publishing and finally in a position to become a serious rival to Bertelsmann.

While Germany's undisputed trade market leader is still comfortably ahead, with combined hardcover and paperback sales of DM459.8m (£143.6m) in 2000, UHL is catching up fast in the highly competitive paperback market, with a DM173.2m (£54m) share compared to Bertelsmann's DM207.3m (£64.8m) share.

UHL's list of companies reads like a Who's Who in Publishing, covering the whole spectrum from cooking (Zabert Sandmann), how-to and illustrated books (Bucher, Südwest), non-fiction (Econ, Propyläen) audiobooks (Ullstein Hörverlag) and fiction. Fiction is the group's showcase, with Heyne and its imprint Diana, List, Marion von Schröder, Claassen and Ullstein sharing an impressive stable of bestselling authors ranging from Stephen King (Ullstein), John le Carré and Charles Frazier (List) to Nicholas Sparks, Tom Clancy, John Grisham and Marian Keyes at Heyne.

While the list of imprints may be the envy of the trade, this is even more the case with the team of publishers which Mr Strasser has assembled around him, based in his strong belief that group imprints should be run on as long a lead as possible. The publishers/editorial directors involved are well-known in Germany and abroad, consisting of Lothar Menne (Ullstein), Ulrich Genzler (Heyne), Margit Ketterle (Econ, Bucher, Propyläen), Johannes Thiele (Marion von Schröder), Doris Jahnsen (List, Claassen) and Armin Gontermann (UHL paperbacks).

With the financial power of Springer to back them up, Mr Strasser and his team are not afraid of spending big money on books. Last year's spectacular shopping spree, for example, brought John le Carré, Stephen King and the Beatles memoirs under the roof of the Ullstein Heyne List.