McGraw-Hill Education acquire ALEKS Corporation,

June 21, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

McgrawhilleducationMcGraw-Hill Education is to acquire ALEKS Corporation, the privately held developer of the ALEKS® adaptive learning technology for the K-12 and higher education markets. The acquisition is McGraw-Hill Education’s first since it was acquired by funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, in March 2013. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur early in the third quarter of 2013.

aleksALEKS uses research-based, artificial intelligence to rapidly and precisely determine each student’s knowledge state, pinpointing exactly what a student knows and doesn’t know. ALEKS then instructs students on the topics they’re most ready to learn, constantly updating each student’s knowledge state and adapting to the student’s individualized learning needs. McGraw-Hill Education has marketed and sold ALEKS for math in the higher education space for more than 10 years.

In January 2013, McGraw-Hill Education acquired an equity stake in Area9 Aps, the Denmark-based adaptive learning company. McGraw-Hill Education and Area9 have worked together to develop products such as the LearnSmart Advantage adaptive learning suite, which includes SmartBook, the world’s first-ever adaptive e-book.

“At McGraw-Hill Education, our number one focus is providing solutions that generate improved results for students, educators, and institutions, and we believe that delivering personalized experiences through adaptive technology is a key ingredient to teaching and learning success,” said Buzz Waterhouse, president and chief executive officer of McGraw-Hill Education. “Through our acquisition of ALEKS, we’re working to grow and further develop the type of engaging, personalized experiences that we see as a central element in the future of education.”

McGraw-Hill Education will continue to sell ALEKS as a standalone solution over the near term, but the company plans deeper integration between ALEKS and its content and digital platforms.  As part of the acquisition, McGraw-Hill Education will maintain ALEKS Corporation’s current offices in Irvine, Calif.

USA, New York, NY & Irvine, CA

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IHRDC acquires petroleum training company Invincible Energy

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ihrdcIHRDC, an oil and gas industry training business, has acquired Invincible Energy, a U.K.-based petroleum training and consultancy company. Invincible offers a variety of petroleum trading, marketing and risk management programs on a public basis each year at Cambridge University, Geneva and Singapore. They alsoinvincible teach these programs on a private, in-house basis for companies worldwide. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We really value the design of Invincible’s programs and the quality of its instructors, which is why we decided to make this acquisition.” said Dr. David Donohue, President of IHRDC. “They have an excellent reputation for teaching the fundamentals of the oil markets with practical exercises and real time access to market data. Their unique program design is very similar to our time-tested petroleum workshops that offer the best way to internalize learning. It is a win-win for us and our many common clients!”

USA, Boston, MA & UK, Farnham, Surrey

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Rosetta Stone acquires online language company Livemocha

April 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

rosetta stoneRosetta Stone has acquired Seattle-based Livemocha, one of the world’s largest online language-learning communities, for $8.5 million in cash. Livemocha has a community of over 16 million members in 195 countries. The company  uses crowd-sourcing to drive content development and social engagement. Livemocha will remain in Seattle.

“We are in the process of transforming Rosetta Stone to be the most dynamic and ubiquitous technology-based learning platform in the world,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Swad. “Our acquisition of Livemocha will help accelerate that transformation. With Livemocha and its vibrant online community on our side, Rosetta Stone will reach more people and change more lives than ever before.”

USA, Arlington, VA & Seattle, WA

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Pearson VUE acquires Exam Design

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Pearson2Pearson VUE, the assessment services business of Pearson, has acquired Exam Design Inc, a provider of examination development software used in high-stakes testing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The purchase includes ownership of Exam Design’s flagship product, ExamDeveloper, a web-based suite of tools that helps users examdesigndevelop rigorous and defensible assessments for credentialing purposes while reducing the reliance on in-person meetings.

Pearson VUE has been working with Exam Design for over a year and currently publishes exams created through ExamDeveloper for a variety of clients. Headquartered in North Carolina, the Exam Design business and its employees will remain in their current locations, further supporting a seamless acquisition.

Robert Whelan, CEO and President of Pearson VUE, said: “Exam Design brings to Pearson VUE leading-edge test development technology that’s built on principles of psychometric integrity. Its expertise and services complement our own and fit perfectly with our future plans. This acquisition underscores our commitment to providing next-generation test development tools and services that support and protect the value of our clients’ credentials.

USA, Bloomington, MN & Durham, NC

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World Book, Inc. Acquires Incentive Publications

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

worldbookWorld Book, Inc., a publisher of print and online educational products, has acquired Incentive Publications.

“We are thrilled to add Incentive Publications (IP) to our family of educational products,” said World Book, incentivepubInc. President Don Keller . “IP’s record of creating excellent supplemental resources for the classroom and promoting effective teaching strategies is directly aligned with our own mission to publish superior reference and instructional products and enlarge our educational publishing product line. IP’s wealth of supplemental classroom products will add to World Book’s impressive existing collection of standards-aligned materials to support teachers.”

USA, Chicago, IL & Grapevine, TX

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lynda.com acquires Austrian online learning company video2brain

February 18, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

lyndalynda.com, an online learning company, has acquired video2brain, GmbH, a European-based online video training company that specialises in German-, French-, Spanish- and English-language courses.

“This acquisition is an investment in our future as we see a huge growth opportunity in new and emerging markets that demand multi-lingual educational content,” said Eric Robison, lynda.com president and CEO.

USA, Carpinteria, CA & Austria, Graz

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McGraw-Hill Education to acquire a 20 percent equity stake in Area9 Aps

January 24, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

McgrawhilleducationMcGraw-Hill Education is to acquire a 20 percent equity stake in Area9 Aps, the Denmark-based adaptive learning company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

McGraw-Hill Education’s equity investment in Area9 marks the culmination of a longstanding relationship between the two companies. Since 2007, McGraw-Hill Education and Area9 have worked together to develop products that deliver personalised learning experiences by using adaptive technology to continually assess students’ knowledge and skill levels and design study paths that bolster students’ understanding in the areas where they need to improve the most. By allowing students to focus their outside-of-class study time on the area-9topics and concepts that are most challenging to them, McGraw-Hill Education’s adaptive solutions have been shown to help students study more efficiently, develop greater proficiency and earn better grades. As part of the agreement, McGraw-Hill Education and Area9 will work together to develop new adaptive learning products, both within and outside the higher education market.

“At McGraw-Hill Education, we have a passion for teaching and learning, and we believe that delivering personalized experiences through adaptive technology is a key ingredient to teaching and learning success,” said Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education. “Through our investment in Area9, we’re working to create more deeply integrated teaching and learning experiences that we  see as a central element in the future of education.”

Founded in 2006 by Dr. Ulrik Juul Christensen, Area9 develops technologies that fix the gaps in helping people learn with the goal of finding a better way of delivering training and education. Area9’s roots trace back to the early 1990s, when at the Danish Institute for Medical Simulation Dr.Christensen began to see how adaptive technology could improve the inefficiencies in medical training. Through years of research and development, Dr. Christensen and Area9 realized that adaptive technologies could be developed to make learning more effective and efficient for students everywhere.

USA, New York, NY & Denmark, Copenhagen

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Pearson trading update – continuing tough market conditions

January 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Pearson2Pearson has provided a January trading update. They will report preliminary results for 2012 on 25 February 2013.

See below:

In general, Pearson’s businesses continue to face tough market conditions and structural industry change which we see continuing into 2013. The company continues to gain share in key markets and to benefit from its investments in digital services and developing economies.

Market conditions remained weak, as expected, in the key fourth-quarter selling season for higher education, consumer publishing and corporate advertising. For 2012 as a whole we expect to report good revenue growth at constant exchange rates, operating profit of approximately £935m (broadly level at CER), adjusted earnings of approximately 84p per share and cash conversion of close to 90%. The 2012 results will reflect the absence of a profit contribution from FTSE International (£20m of operating profit and 2.2p of EPS in 2011) and the impact of the radically-changed trading environment for Pearson in Practice, which led to the recent decision to plan to exit that business.

Our North American education business will report modest revenue growth at constant exchange rates, indicating another year of significant market share gains in North America. 2012 was a particularly tough year for the US educational materials industry, with net sales for the combined US School and Higher Education publishing industries declining by 11% in the first 11 months of the year, according to the AAP. Our services and digital learning revenues continued to grow rapidly and we benefited from a strong performance from recent acquisitions and tight cost control.

Our International education business will report double digit sales growth at constant exchange rates as we continued to perform well in developing markets, assessment and English Language Teaching. School publishing markets remained generally subdued as a result of macroeconomic pressure and weak government funding in developed markets. Margins will be level with 2011 as we continue to invest to build scale, particularly in developing markets.

Our Professional education business will report operating profits significantly lower than in 2011. We have achieved good growth once again in professional testing but our UK adult training business, Pearson in Practice, faced a dramatic fall in demand with changes to the apprenticeships programme. We believe this business no longer has a sustainable model and therefore recently announced that we are planning for the exit or closure of Pearson in Practice. As previously announced, the cost of closure and impairment is expected to be approximately £120m and will be reported as a loss on disposal in Pearson’s 2012 statutory accounts.

The Financial Times Group will report good revenue growth for the full year, in spite of a slow fourth quarter caused by weaker advertising sales. Our digital and subscription-based revenues continued to grow well at both the FT and Mergermarket. The FT Group’s full-year profits will be significantly lower than in 2011, reflecting the absence of a contribution from FTSE International following its disposal and further actions to accelerate the shift from print to digital.

Penguin benefited from a good fourth-quarter publishing performance and traded in line with our expectations in its key selling season. It will report revenues in line with 2011 at constant exchange rates in spite of rapid industry change and tough conditions in the physical book retail market. Following Pearson and Bertelsmann’s announcement of their plans to combine Penguin with Random House, the two companies are seeking clearance for the proposed merger from appropriate regulatory authorities around the world. Though the timing of this process is inevitably uncertain, its completion will prompt significant restructuring as we demerge Penguin from Pearson and integrate it with Random House. We believe that the combined organisation will have a stronger platform and greater resources to invest in rich content, new digital publishing models and high-growth emerging markets.

For the full year, we expect our total interest charge to adjusted earnings to be approximately £50m (including a £12m pensions finance credit) and our effective tax rate to be around the low end of our guidance of 24-26% with our cash tax rate benefiting from the deferral of a tax payment into 2013.

Pearson generates approximately 60% of its sales in the US. The average £:$ exchange rate during 2012 was 1.59. The year end £:$ exchange rate was 1.63. A five cent move in the average £:$ exchange rate for the full year has an impact of approximately 1.4p on adjusted earnings per share.

UK, London

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RPS Group PLC acquires Petroleum Institute for Continuing Education

January 17, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

RPSlogoRPS Group PLC, an energy and natural resources consultancy, has acquired Petroleum Institute for Continuing Education (“PEICE”), a Canadian based business providing geoscience and engineering training to the oil and gas industry, for a maximum consideration of C$11.7 million (£7.4 million).

PEICE has been providing training to the oil and gas industry for 12 years. During 2012 it delivered over 200 courses, primarily in Canada and the US. The courses cater for a wide range of participants including recent graduates and technical and administrative support staff, as well as senior energy company staff. Course formats include open courses, in-house at client facilities and on-line delivery. peice

In the year ended 31 August 2012 PEICE had revenues of C$7.4 million (£4.7 million) and profit before tax of C$2.0 million (£1.3 million), after adjustment for non-recurring items.  Net assets at 31 August 2012 were C$0.4 million (£0.25 million).  On the same basis, gross assets at 31 December 2012 were C$1.0 million (£0.6 million).

RPS is acquiring the entire share capital of PEICE for a maximum total consideration of C$11.7 million (£7.4 million), all payable in cash.  Consideration paid at completion was C$5.7 million (£3.6 million).  Subject to certain operational conditions being met, two further sums of C$3 million (£1.9 million) will be paid on the first two anniversaries of the transaction.

The founder and joint owner (with his wife) of the business will be remaining with RPS after the transaction, along with all current PEICE staff. They will work with RPS’ existing energy training teams in the UK and US to extend the range of courses offered and the geographical reach of the business.

Alan Hearne, Chief Executive of RPS, said, “The acquisition of PEICE extends the geographical reach and capability of our existing energy training business.  This remains a growth market, as technical training continues to be important for most of our E&P clients.”

UK, Abingdon, Oxforshire & Canada, Calgary, AB

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UPDATE: Tribal Group acquires International Graduate Insight Group

January 5, 2013 — askhabra

tribalTribal Group has announced that it has completed its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of International Graduate Insight Group (“i-graduate”). This news comes after its announcement on the 20th December that the provider of education, learning and training services worldwide had reached an agreement with i-graduate to acquire it, with the transaction completing on schedule.

The terms of the deal stated that Tribal Group will pay an initial amount of £2.86 million on completion and up to a maximum of £7.5 million subject to satisfaction of an earn-out criteria based on earnings over the 3 year period ending 31 December 2015. The unaudited profit before tax of International Graduate Insight Group Limited for the year ended 31 March 2012 was £423k and the value of gross assets at that time was £1,799k.

i-graduate is an independent benchmarking and analytics group, working in partnership with institutions and education organisations to provide evidence-based information on education experience and outcomes across higher education, further education and schools markets.  The business works with over 1,200 education institutions in 24 countries, receiving and analysing feedback from more than 1.3 million students of over 190 nationalities.  i-graduate will join Tribal’s Services business and will strengthen the Group’s evidence-based analytics offering.

i-graduate was founded in 2005 by Will and Lindsay Archer.  Will Archer will continue to lead the i-graduate business and will head up the integration of i-graduate’s offerings with Tribal’s existing financial benchmarking and analytic capabilities.

Tribal’s Chief Executive Officer, Keith Evans, commented: “This acquisition will enable us to strengthen our capabilities in this exciting and emerging area, expands our product offering to our existing customers and provides increased access for our existing products to the i-graduate customer base, both in the UK and in our targeted international markets.” The transaction is expected to be earnings accretive.

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UK, London

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