Taylor & Francis Group buys Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.

Taylor & Francis Books, a unit of Taylor & Francis Group (New York; London), a publisher of scientific, academic and professional books and journals, has acquired the publishing business and assets of Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers (FDP; Chicago, IL), a producer of reference books, for [pounds sterling]2.4 million ($3.7 million). FDP was represented in the deal by The van Tulleken Co. (New York).

FDP specializes in producing reference materials in the arts, humanities, business and sciences subject areas for public, high school, college/university and professional libraries. FDP publishes about 25 new books per year and has a backlist of 350 titles. For the year ending Dec. 31, 2001, FDP had sales of $3.7 million.

T&F said the acquisition is consistent with its strategy of "growing its portfolio of 'must have' information through well planned organic development and earnings enhancing acquisitions. T&F ceo David Smith said the acquired titles "complement our existing reference list making it a natural fit for the Group."

Taylor & Francis produces over 700 journals and around 800 new books each year with a backlist of over 20,000 titles. Its publications cover a variety of fields, including social sciences, international affairs, politics, economics, psychology, biology, medicine and education.