Egmont UK has announced that it will launch a US publishing company in January 2008 to produce a full line of children’s and young adult books. Douglas Pocock, currently Group Sales Director of Egmont UK, will take up the post of Executive Vice President of Egmont US Inc.

Egmont USA www.egmont-us.com will employ a publishing team based in New York. Its launch list of young adult and middle grade fiction and picture books will be published in Fall 2009. Egmont USA’s focus will be on delivering a list shaped for the USA from both established and new authors. Egmont’s list will be sold across all key market sectors with a focus on trade, school and library markets.

According to Mr. Pocock, who will report to Rob McMenemy, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Egmont UK, “The formation of Egmont USA offers us a terrific opportunity for genuine collaboration between our UK and American offices, enabling us to create real competitive advantage in terms of joint acquisition, world rights and building authors as brands. The launch of Egmont in the USA is the culmination of two years’ planning and it is enormously exciting to finally reach this point.

“Our goal is to be a leading USA children’s publisher within five years while retaining our points of difference, notably author care. Authors and illustrators have always valued this at Egmont and it is one of the reasons that so many stay with us for so long. Our scale will mean that we are able to give each book the care and attention it deserves and every opportunity of success.”

Rob McMenemy comments, “Douglas has been at the center of our US development from the very beginning and his drive, experience and tenacity has played a major role in shaping the plans for the new company. Douglas is a first class business manager and will bring considerable experience of Egmont’s culture and style to the new company.”

Douglas Pocock joined Egmont in 1994 and has been Group Sales Director since January 2005. He has already started the process of recruiting editorial, design, sales and marketing, and finance staff, and plans to confirm the appointment of the publisher later this month, along with details about sales and distribution.

Egmont UK Ltd is one of the largest children’s book publishers in the UK. Its diverse list includes books for children of all ages and features popular licensed characters such as Winnie-the-Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine.

The company publishes an impressive picture book and award-winning fiction list by renowned authors and illustrators, including Helen Oxenbury, Jenny Nimmo, Jamila Gavin, William Nicholson and Frank Beddor. Egmont is also the UK publisher of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

Books and magazines form the core part of Egmont’s business in the UK, with sales of approximately 16 million books and 11.5 million magazines. Egmont UK is part of the Egmont Group, one of Scandinavia’s leading media groups with activities including film, TV production and interactive games. Egmont has activities in 23 countries, and 3,800 employees reaching revenues of EUR 1.24 billions in 2006.