Bertelsmann subsidiary Relias Learning has acquired Florida-based e-learning company RediLearning. Terms of the deal, the first under the Bertelsmann Education Group umbrella, were not disclosed — though a Reuters source puts it at a “medium double-digit million US dollar sum.” The nine-year-old RediLearning provides online training in the field of senior care, primarily through 400 online courses. Bertelsmann ceo and chairman Thomas Rabe said in the announcement: “The acquisition of RediLearning fits perfectly into our education strategy. E-Learning is a strategic segment for Bertelsmann as we develop our education business. Relias is a core investment, and we will continue to develop […]
Education
Macmillan to Combine Educational Units
Further reorganizing what remains of their fully-owned educational companies after the big merger of Macmillan Science and Education with Springer earlier this year, Macmillan is taking the logical step of bringing together Macmillan Higher Education and Macmillan New Ventures into a single unit as of January 1. The combined entity will be called Macmillan Learning going forward, still under the direction of ceo Ken Michaels (who is currently ceo of the two separate units). Macmillan Higher Education comprises the US publishing lines Bedford/St. Martin’s, W.H. Freeman, and Worth Publishers; Macmillan New Ventures has been their ed-tech investment arm, and comprises start-ups including Hayden-McNeil, Sapling Learning, Late […]
Bertelsmann Formalizes Education Division
Not surprisingly, following the big $540 million acquisition of Relias Learning last year and a number of substantial investments in the field, Bertelsmann has set up the Bertelsmann Education Group as its own business unit. Kay Krafft, who has managed Bertelsmann’s education enterprises since 2014, is ceo of the new group, and Jarek Gabor is cfo. Headquartered in New York, BEG will be managed by Bertelsmann’s Corporate Investments division. Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Rabe said in the announcement (as he has before), “Education is one of Bertelsmann’s key growth platforms, and we want to expand this segment into our third mainstay of business, alongside media […]
Corporate: McGraw-Hill Education Files for IPO; Meredith Sold to Media General
As indicated recently by Reuters, McGraw-Hill Education did indeed file preliminary paperwork with the SEC last week to launch an IPO, probably before the end of the year. For filing purposes they use a placeholder value of $100 million, though the actual offering is expected to look to raise up to five times that amount in actual proceeds. For the first six months of 2015 MHE had sales of $670 million, with a net loss of -$256 million. In 2014, the company had sales of $1.856 billion and a loss of -$331 million. As of June 30, the company carried […]
McGraw-Hill Education Said to Hire Underwriters for End-of-Year IPO
Consistent with reports from this spring — and rumors from 2014 — McGraw-Hill Education’s private equity owners Apollo Global Management look to be moving ahead with plans for an IPO. “People familiar with the matter” tell Reuters the company has hired Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters and “expects to launch the IPO at the end of the year” following back-to-school sales. The market will determine the company’s value, but the leakers continue to assert a range of between $5 billion and $6 billion, including debt — which continues to sound aggressive until proven otherwise. Apollo bought the company in […]
Blackboard Owners Hire Bankers to Sell Company
Software company Blackboard, a staple of high school and college classrooms, is exploring a sale, hoping for a valuation of up to $3.4 billion, Reuters reports. According to “people familiar with the matter” Blackboard’s majority owner Providence Equity Partners has hired Deutsche Bank and Bank of America to run an auction and two anonymous people suggest the target would be “a valuation between 14 times to 17 times EBITDA,” currently at around $200 million annually. Providence took Blackboard private in 2011 for $1.64 billion (and took on $130 million in net debt.)