LPC publishers spy light

Independent UK and US publishers may recoup cash and stock owed to them by troubled American distributor LPC if a plan to put the company into liquidation goes ahead.

A group of UK publishers, including Kogan Page, faced a prolonged court battle to retrieve cash and stock owed by LPC (The Bookseller, 24th May). A change in US law meant that LPC's backers—American National Bank and Bank One—were able to file a claim for ownership of the stock and the proceeds from its sale.

But the distributor has filed a liquidation plan with a Connecticut bankruptcy court. If creditors agree not to pursue the banks through the courts, they will receive their stock back and be reimbursed for sales of the books.

"We decided that everyone would come out better if we didn't try to continue on in business," LPC head David Wilk said.

But it was unclear whether publishers would be repaid in full. Gordon Watts, Kogan Page finance director, said: "Some light has emerged at the end of the tunnel. But it is unclear where the cut-off point lies for claims."

Kogan Page—which distributes the bulk of its lists in the US through another distributor, Stylus—is in the process of moving the business that LPC does handle for it.

Small Canadian publishers will be forced into bankruptcy if they are not paid the money owed to them by the distribution arm of General Publishing quickly, according to an Ontario Superior Court document. The distributor, GDS, also owes money to its UK publishers, which include BBC, Hodder Headline, Piatkus and Aurum.

"If publishers are unable to recover their receivables or inventory from GDS on an urgent basis, many publishers will be forced to cease or scale back operations," said an affidavit from David Caron, executive director of the Literary Press Group of Canada, which is representing 43 Canadian publishers. He said publishers were owed C$3m.