Company grows international presence in assuming majority ownership of Brazil publishing entity

// BRAZIL

HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) announced in early October its acquisition of majority ownership of Thomas Nelson Brasil (TNB) from joint-venture partner Ediouro Group. HCCP, TNB and Ediouro will continue to work closely together.

The TNB acquisition directly aligns with HCCP’s strategic plan to grow its international presence to support its English-speaking authors who have a global platform while at the same time continuing to publish local voices and content relevant to Brazilian readers.

TNB was formed in 2006 as a partnership between Thomas Nelson Publishers and Ediouro. Brazil has been one of the fastest-growing evangelical countries in the world, and Thomas Nelson used its publishing brand and Ediouro’s infrastructure to introduce its U.S. authors to a Brazilian audience. As the brand gained recognition among Brazilian evangelicals, publishing indigenous authors became a focus for TNB. In 2012, TNB published one of Brazil’s top-selling books, Casamento Blinddado (The Bulletproof Marriage) by Renato and Cristiane Cardoso, with 1.8 million copies sold to date.

When Thomas Nelson was acquired by HarperCollins Publishers in 2012, TNB became part of HCCP, which includes the Zondervan Group, Bible Gateway, HarperCollins Mexico and Olive Tree. Today, approximately half of TNB’s business is generated by Brazilian Christian authors.

“TNB gives us an international presence that helps fulfill our company mission to inspire the world with content that honors God,” said Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HCCP. “In 2013, we offered more than 200 titles from U.S. authors in our Brazilian catalog, which is a testament to their global platforms and messages. Additionally, we are thankful that the TNB team has been fortunate enough to publish strong evangelical voices like Ludmila Ferber, as well as new authors like Renato and Cristiane Cardoso, which is validating the TNB name within Brazilian culture.”

Tod Shuttleworth, senior vice president of international publishing, will oversee the TNB business for HCCP. Antonio Araujo will continue as general manager in Brazil for TNB and will report to Shuttleworth, with Omar Souza as publisher.

“Twenty-five percent of Brazil’s 200 million people are evangelical Christians,” said Shuttleworth. “Our partnership with Ediouro, a distinguished trade-book publisher in Brazil for more than 70 years, has been invaluable in reaching this audience. They have helped place TNB books in well-established distribution channels and provided a strong infrastructure that complements the HCCP business and Thomas Nelson publishing brand.”

TNB has continued to partner with major churches and denominations as well as local authors, and in 2013 entered the Bible-publishing market. With this new focus, TNB became the second-largest evangelical publisher in Brazil, increasing its revenue by 57% last year.

“Thomas Nelson and now HarperCollins has been a wonderful partner to Ediouro Group,” said Jorge Carneiro, president of Ediouro. “We feel honored by our continued partnership with HarperCollins, its confidence in our team, and its investment in the future of the Brazilian editorial market.”

TNB will continue to focus on Christian titles, growing its indigenous author base and publishing Bibles and HCCP titles that best resonate with the country’s evangelical population.­ —Johnson

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