International law firm Addleshaw Goddard has advised HarperCollins Publishers on the acquisition of Crunchyroll’s manga publishing operations in Germany and France. Completion is expected in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval.

HarperCollins was advised by a cross-border German-French team from Addleshaw Goddard, led by Corporate/M&A partners Dr Hubertus Schröder (Hamburg) and Mathieu Taupin (Paris).

In Germany, the team included partners Manuela Finger (Commercial/IP, Munich) and Dr Anders Kraft (Tax, Frankfurt), counsel Jens Peters (Employment, Hamburg), and managing associates Fabian Neppessen (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), Steffen Bellmann (Tax, Frankfurt) and Lars Schönwald (Commercial/IP, Munich).

The French team comprised partners Anna-Christina Chaves (Employment) and Elisabeth Marrache (Commercial/IP), counsel Baudouin Gouffier (Corporate/M&A), and associates Sara Bellahouel (Employment) and Gabrielle Pierre-Lenfant (Commercial/IP), all based in Paris.

Advice on Japanese law was provided by Hashidate Law, a Tokyo-based firm formally allied with Addleshaw Goddard since 2013.

The seller was advised by a German-French team of Mayer Brown, led by partners Carlos Robles y Zepf (Frankfurt) and Hadrien Schlumberger (Paris).

Addleshaw Goddard has extensive industry expertise in the publishing and media sector and most recently advised HarperCollins on the strategic acquisition of Gräfe und Unzer, Germany’s market-leading non-fiction publisher.