Publishing company PCM is putting its book division up for sale, the company said on Tuesday.

The synergy with PCM’s newspaper publishing activities is ‘relatively modest’, a spokesman for the group told the NRC.
PCM’s book arm includes A W Bruna, Meulenhoff Boekerij, Standaard Uitgeverij, Unieboek and Het Spectrum. The five publishers booked combined turnover of €97.6m last year, an increase of €900,000 on 2007. The publishers control some 15% of the Dutch book market, PCM said.
PCM is in the process of being sold to Belgian publishing group Persgroep for €130m. The company publishes the Volkskrant, NRC, AD and Trouw newspapers while Persgroep owns the Parool. The competition authority NMa has already ordered PCM to sell the NRC group in order for the takeover to go through.