F&N gets conditional nod to buy Penguin units after no-discrimination pledge

Singapore

FRASER and Neave's (F&N) Times Publishing has been granted conditional approval from the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) to acquire the Singapore and Malaysian distribution arms of international book publisher Penguin Random House for S$8 million, after pledging not to discriminate against book retailers.

In an announcement on Monday, CCS said Times Publishing has committed to supply third-party retailers with the full range of books by Penguin on a "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis". This will be applied during the period of exclusive distribution between the two Penguin units, and the Penguin publishers.