Messaggerie and Feltrinelli build €250 million book wholesale hub

A joint venture with projected consolidated turnover of €250 million for 2026 is set to reshape the Italian wholesale distribution of schoolbooks and general interest books. Messaggerie and Feltrinelli, through EmmeEffe Libri, have signed a binding agreement with Mauro Padovani, founder of Txt, and the Portesani family of Centro Libri to create the new company, named XL. The deal awaits clearance from the Competition Authority.

The structure is straightforward. EmmeEffe Libri — itself 70 per cent owned by the Messaggerie Group and 30 per cent by the Feltrinelli Group — will hold a controlling 51 per cent stake. Padovani takes 40 per cent. The Portesani family holds the remaining 9 per cent. XL will own 100 per cent of Txt and Centro Libri, the latter already 51 per cent controlled by EmmeEffe Libri.

Who runs XL?

Alberto Ottieri, chairman and chief executive of Emmelibri, will chair the venture. Padovani becomes chief executive. Riccardo Portesani, chief executive of Centro Libri, joins the board.

Ottieri framed the deal as part of a deliberate pattern: "The Messaggerie Group's main growth strategy in the general interest and educational books market is through joint ventures with the leading market players." He added that "the launch of XL, in partnership with Mauro Padovani, founder of Txt, and the Portesani family, founders of Centro Libri — who are already our partners — further consolidates this strategic sector."

Why consolidate wholesale?

The business rationale rests on three levers: greater investment capacity, leaner stock levels, and better service. That last one matters because school orders in Italy cluster heavily between June and October. Five months decide the year. A wholesaler that can absorb that spike — consolidating supplies from publishers and managing ranges and availability for retail outlets — holds real channel power.

The merger brings together two complementary specialisations: supplying school textbooks to large retail chains, and providing services to bookshops and stationery shops. In a market where the school segment also faces a declining population, efficiency is the only reliable path to margin.

What do the assets look like?

Txt, founded in 1997, delivers five million books a year from a 14,000-square-metre logistics centre in Ferrara. The site holds 2.5 million volumes and runs highly automated facilities. Its services go beyond moving boxes: Txt covers school textbooks, handling personalisation and packaging for each individual pupil — a labour-intensive step that big retailers cannot easily do themselves.

Centro Libri, founded in Brescia in 1976, operates nationwide. Beyond its core business, it supplies books and services to libraries through its 'Leggere' operation.

Put the two together and you get scale on both sides of the wholesale equation. Txt brings textbook logistics and automated fulfilment sized for retail chains; Centro Libri brings a national network reaching independent bookshops, stationers and public libraries.

What happens next?

Nothing closes until the Competition Authority signs off, and that review will test whether a €250 million combined player in book wholesale raises concentration concerns in a market where EmmeEffe Libri already controls 51 per cent of Centro Libri. If approved, the venture gives Messaggerie and Feltrinelli a single consolidating hub between publishers and roughly the full spectrum of Italian retail outlets — large chains, independents and schools suppliers alike — just as demographic pressure pushes the sector toward volume concentration and leaner inventory.