Debrett’s Peerage is changing hands but the...

Debrett’s Peerage is changing hands but the traditions of the 219-year-old guide to British aristocracy will be preserved, purchaser Sterling Publications Ltd. has reported. “We’re delighted,” Sterling’s managing director, Michael Summers, said after his publishing group bought Debrett’s Peerage Ltd., which produces the who’s who of the aristocracy. Ian McCorquodale, son of romantic novelist Barbara Cartland, will stay on as chairman of Debrett’s Peerage, Summers said. Sterling, offering its own shares or a mixture of cash and shares to Debrett’s shareholders, will pay a maximum of $964,000 for the company and inherit debts of $828,410.