Strategic pact between Messaggerie, Feltrinelli with Txt and Centro Libri. All the details on the joint venture that redesigns editorial distribution. At the helm of XL will be Alberto Ottieri, president, and Mauro Padovani, CEO
Two and a half million volumes arranged along fourteen thousand square meters of automated warehouse Ferrarasupported by a centralized hub that gives Brescia it widely serves the network of Italian bookstores and libraries. The physical flow of the printed page finds a new industrial structure through the signing of a binding agreement intended to redesign the balance of the sector
From the agreement between MFLibri — a company 70% controlled by Messaging Group and 30% from Feltrinelli Group — the entrepreneur Mauro Padovani and the Portesani familya new joint venture entirely dedicated to book wholesale takes shape. The company, baptized XLwill become operational once the authorization of theAGCM.
The shareholding structure reflects a shared governance model: MFLibri will hold 51% of the capital, leaving 40% to the founder of TXT Mauro Padovani and 9% to the Portesani family, with the latter already seeing its own creation, Book Center51% owned by MFLibri itself.
The industrial map between large-scale distribution and local shops
Following the operation, the new parent company will acquire total control of two operational pillars of Italian book logistics: 100% of TXT SpA and 100% of Centro Libri srl The top management will see Alberto Ottiericurrent president and CEO of Emmelibriassume the position of president of XL, while a Mauro Padovani will go the role of CEO. He will also sit on the board of directors Riccardo Portesanicurrent CEO of Centro Libri.
The economic horizon is defined: the new entity estimates a net consolidated turnover in the order of 2026 250 million eurosimmediately establishing itself as one of the primary references for the school adoption and miscellaneous segment.
The industrial logic underlying the operation aims at the integration of two channels that are historically parallel but distinct in their purchasing dynamics: the large organized distribution and the traditional fabric composed of bookshops and stationery shops. An architecture that will allow, among other things, the widespread scaling of value-added services oriented to the end user, such as the cover and personalization of educational texts for families.
It intervenes directly on the strategic plant Alberto Ottieri: «The Messaggerie Group’s main growth strategy in the general and school book market takes place through joint ventures with the main market operators. The birth of XL, in partnership with Mauro Padovani, founder of TXT, and the Portesani family, founders of Centro Libri, already our partners, further consolidates a strategic sector such as the wholesale distribution of school and university books in large-scale retail trade, bookshops and stationery shops. Furthermore, enriched by a unique service in the large-scale retail channel such as the covering and personalization of school books for Italian families. XL is a beautiful entrepreneurial adventure, with people and entrepreneurial partners that we respect, and the Messaggerie Group faces it with great enthusiasm”.
Operational roots and channel complementarity
The union brings together two consolidated business paths in their respective segments. On the one hand TXTfounded in 1997 by Mauro Padovani, who over the course of thirty years has structured his distribution capacity on advanced automation and logistical processes, reaching the point of handling annual 5 million books and supervise the supply to large-scale distribution and retail.
«TXT was founded and developed by believing and investing in quality technology, resources, processes and people. I was offered this opportunity, inspired by the same principles, with people in tune in terms of vision and commitment, and I had no hesitations in taking it. With this union, a project comes to life that already excited me when I saw great potential for two different but similar companies, each a leader in its own distribution channel. The choice to come on board and join a large group was also favored by the common vision and harmony with the other partners, to whom I express my gratitude for the trust placed in me and my team, confirming me in the role of CEO of TXT and assigning me the same role also in XL”, explains the same Mauro Padovani.
It is on the opposite side Book Centerwhich celebrates fifty years of activity since its birth in Brescia in 1976. The company supplies the independent network of retailers and, through the subsidiary Lightguarantees supplies to university and civic libraries through its centralized hub.
The need for operational convergence is clarified Riccardo Portesani: «We are convinced of the value of this operation, which unites companies with distinctive and highly complementary skills. Large-scale organized distribution on the one hand, bookshops and stationery shops on the other, today require increasingly higher levels of service, which can only be guaranteed with advanced specializations and processes designed for each channel.. Integrating the experience of TXT and Centro Libri in a single industrial project will allow us to seize important efficiency potential along the entire publishing distribution chain. At the same time, we will be able to preserve and strengthen the specificity of the service offered to each customer, for the benefit of publishers, points of sale and Italian families”.
The initiative falls within the scope of Italian messengersactive since 1914 and present on the market through the Emmelibri subholding (the company that owns the platform Messaging Books and the wholesale activities of Fastbook And Opportunity with EmmeEffe Libri, in addition to controlling 70% of GeMS). The physical movement of millions of volumes between Ferrara and the peripheral sales points thus finds unified management in the establishment of XL.
