While the ERO that was presented a week ago by the Enciclopèdia Group is being negotiated and affects about fifteen workers, the publishing group is taking another step to resolve its future with the agreement reached with Abacus and Jaume Roures to "start an exclusive negotiation for the sale of their publishing labels", according to what they made public this Wednesday in a statement. The result will be a large publishing group that will represent "nearly 8% market share in Catalan in Catalonia and will become the second Catalan publishing group in the country, according to GFK data", says the statement.
Abacus has Ara Llibres (specializing in non-fiction), Amsterdam (fiction), Inuk (children's) and La Casa dels Clàssics, and among others sumaria, in addition to the historic children's label La Galera, Univers (narrative in Catalan), Catedral (narrative in Spanish), Elastic Books (youth), Vienna (classics), Kaji (manga in Catalan) or Bridge (crossover).
The statement also mentions that the new group will include "the publishing interests of Jaume Roures", without specifying whether it is the entire Suma Llibres group, formed by Navona, Folch
In a statement, Enciclopèdia specifies that from now on "opens a new stage focused on Education (Text, High Voice), Great Works (Enciclopèdia Art) and the foundational activity of promoting Catalan culture and language", and will maintain labels dedicated to textbooks (the most profitable sector) and art book publishing, as well as maintaining its more than 30 online dictionaries. They will also keep the Encyclopaedia label.
At the same time, Enciclopèdia will keep its distributor Àgora, but it will leave the shareholding of Entredos, of which it had a 45% and the bankruptcy of which put in motion meant the aggravation of the problems of the group led by Joan Abellà, with a debt that exceeds nine million euros and is owned by the Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, chaired by Xavier Cambra. In statements to La Vanguardia, Abellà explained that Enciclopèdia's will is to "reconcentrate on education", which is the mission of the foundation, and that he will stay to "manage the transition".
The press release includes statements from the general manager of Abacus, Oriol Soler, who assesses that the operation "is another example of Abacus' commitment to the Catalan language and culture and to the need to strengthen the country's cultural industries. Our goal is to keep alive the values that Enciclopèdia Catalana has always represented". Jaume Roures, on the other hand, has stated that his participation stems from the desire to "guarantee the continuity of historical publishing projects of great importance for the country".
