Few publishing industry executives could have envied Derk Haank last year when the top-ranking executive at Reed Elsevier traded in his position at the Anglo-Dutch giant to be chief executive of Springer. The opportunity appeared to promise little but uncertainty.

Springer was created last year by Cinven and Candover, the UK private equity houses, through the merger of BertelsmannSpringer and KAP, the Dutch publishing group that was formerly owned by Wolters Kluwer.