Co-op acquires DA Information, Central Book Services

2 September 2013 Books+Publishing

Campus bookseller the Co-op has acquired library supply business DA Information Services and its trade distribution arm Central Book Services (CBS).

The businesses, which operated under parent company The Information Specialists, have been in administration since early July. Both companies are based in Mitcham in Melbourne and together employed 45 staff at the time of entering administration.

Co-op chief marketing officer Greg Smith told Books+Publishing that all DA Information and CBS staff will stay on with the companies following the change in ownership, and that the Mitcham offices will remain open. He said that both DA Information and CBS will continue to operate in their current forms, with DA Information to be aligned with the Co-op’s existing corporate and library supply business.

Co-op chief operating officer Thorsten Wichtendahl said in a statement on 30 August that the acquisition ‘presents the Co-op with the opportunity to combine and expand our Corporate Sales Business Unit to become a market leader among library suppliers in Australia’. ‘The solid library supply business DA Information has built over its 62 years has all the requirements our customers are demanding, including the ability to offer a range of institutional licences and the ability to work with multiple library management systems,’ said Wichtendahl.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Ferrier Hodgson partner John Lindholm was appointed as voluntary administrator of DA Information and CBS on 5 July.

Category: Local news