The Blackwell family has ended a long-running feud about the future of its publishing company by selling it to a US rival for £572m.

John Wiley & Sons said it had received irrevocable commitments from the principal shareholders.

Nigel Blackwell, Blackwell Publishing's chairman and largest shareholder, is expected to net £100m from the deal with his 45 per cent stake.

He clashed with his uncle Toby, 73, who pushed for a sale in 2002 to rival publisher Taylor & Francis, based at Milton Park, near Abingdon, which had approached the group with an informal offer of £300m.

Blackwell, which traces its history back to a 12sq ft bookshop opened in 1879 in Broad Street, Oxford, has two businesses - publishing and retailing.

The bookshops and library business, which have their headquarters at Beaver House in Hythe Bridge Street, are not included in the deal. Blackwell president Bob Campbell said: "The businesses are completely separate, but have common shareholders. Nigel and Toby were here for a long time helping to conclude the negotiations and left very happily in the same car."

He said Wiley had paid a "substantial sum" into the pension fund and was planning to continue the final-salary pension scheme.

Nigel Blackwell said: "Wiley and Blackwell are two great firms sharing the same cultural values and a common publishing ethic."