Site Search

Will it never stop? Pearson buys another company!

publication date: Jun 1, 2007
 | 
author/source: Richard Taylor
Download Print

Does anyone at Pearson actually sleep? Their frenetic buying of educational assets that fit well and come at reasonable prices seems to show no signs of a slow down. The latest acquisition is NASDAQ-listed eCollege for which they paid £238m. eCollege is one of the leaders in online distance learning, a sector that in the US is growing by 30%+ p.a. Indeed, eCollege’s revenue has grown by 22% annually for four years. 2006 sales were £26m with profits of £11m. While not a large transaction, eCollege shows that Pearson are prepared to pay higher multiples, with this deal being done on a turnover multiple of 9.1 and a profit multiple of 21.6!

Pearson will be able to save money by delisting eCollege and by integrating its back office and infrastructure needs within its existing US education business. As part of the deal, which has yet to be approved by shareholders, eCollege will sell its Datamark student enrolment business to a group of investors led by Oakleigh Thorne, eCollege's Chairman and CEO.

www.ecollege.com

www.datamark.com


Copyright Meissa Limited 2006-2012