The Learned Man!

Careless Whispers Redux

Before you continue reading you might want to check out the wikipedia entry on Gossip!

We have been hearing persistent rumours of a Pune based eLearning vendor (who has been burning up the PR lines with spiel on their authoring products) in talks to be bought out....if anyone knows more feel free to mail in....and please do mention "Gossip" in the subject line. :)

UPDATE: We hear that the company in question has indeed been bought out by a BPO. We estimate the deal size to be in the region of $25 Mn. Nothing official has been put out by any of the parties concerned yet.

You're Fired! - Element K Trims Work Force

Element K has cut 40 people from its work force as a result of a merger with NIIT.

Element K, a company that develops mostly online learning products, said the move was to eliminate positions that overlap with those at NIIT Ltd. NIIT completed its acquisition of Element K this week.

"As with any transaction that brings together two similar businesses, there are duplications in certain job roles," Element K Chief Executive Steve Hoffman said in a statement. "As a result, Element K reduced its Rochester-based work force today by about 40 people, or less than 10 percent.

"The reductions were in certain administrative functions, as well as some product development areas where both companies have significant headcount."

Original article here.

NIIT to acquire US firm Element K

NIIT Global has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Element K, a leading provider of learning solutions in North America. The transaction is expected to close within two weeks. Element K to function as an independent operating entity with Stephen Hoffman continuing as CEO.

Read the entire press release by clicking here.

Techbooks - Have Money, Will Buy?

Within a year of completing the takeover of Maximize Learning, Techbooks is on the prowl again eyeing acquisitions in India and the US. Techbooks is on the lookout for companies specialising in services such as content IT and litigation support or have customers in verticals including pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

For organic growth, the company plans to invest $5-7 million this year to augment its capacity in India. For acquisition, Techbooks plans to consider companies with revenues of $10-20 million. Click here for more.

Techbooks' investors include American Capital & Blue Water Capital. Click here for their corporate snapshot with details of past acquisitions.

Huveaux's Strategy for Epic & Other UK Updates

Some six months after acquiring Epic, Huveaux has revealed its strategy for the future.

As anticipated Huveaux has placed a strong emphasis on products. The key parts of their statement to the City on 6th March 2006, were:

"From the outset, it has been our intention to extend Epic’s skill set and experience and expand its revenue base by altering the business model and building a portfolio of owned IP which can deliver an additional and recurring revenue stream over the longer term. Consequently, our strategy for Epic is to:

• Create a Huveaux-owned product portfolio combining Epic’s innovative e-learning techniques with our existing learning content. These products will be sold based on an annual user licence model. Our first chosen areas are Leadership, Compliance and Human Resources Legislation;
• Develop, through internal joint ventures, electronic versions of our existing product where they offer customers an extra benefit."

Other UK Updates:

• the Adval and Maxim (formerly Knowledgepool e-learning)  merger has been finalised and the old Brighton Knowledgepool office closed
• the announced Futuremedia and Ebc deal is due to go through later in March
• there have been some redundancies at Brighton based Brightwave

Source:
Kineo

Granada Learning On The Block

Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the US private equity firm, is in exclusive talks to acquire ITV's Granada Learning business.

Granada Learning assets include Letts revision guides, the educational publisher Leckie & Leckie, and BlackCat software. An announcement confirming the deal is expected soon as ITV clears up its corporate structure following the merger of Granada and Carlton in February 2004.

Click here for the complete story.

Tata Interactive Buys Overseas Companies

Finally it has happened, Tata Interactive Systems has made its first overseas acquisition. And it seems to be a smart move to get into the European markets, overcome the language barriers and create entry barriers for other e-Learning companies by consolidating this market. The competition is about to get fiercer!

Tata Interactive Systems Launches Corporate Blog

In what could very well be a first for Indian industry, one of the world's premier eLearning companies, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) has launced a corporate blog. This may even be the first blog ever by a major eLearning company anywhere in the world!

The Learned Man would like to applaud this move! Tata Interactive has done the right thing by opting to allow the world a peek into their culture, their work and a chance to interact with some of their senior employees. For a change we now actually have a more interesting way to interact with this company rather than just know what is going on in there from boring press releases. Once again, well done TIS!

Tata Interactive Systems: Corporate Blog - http://blog.tatainteractive.com

Educomp IPO: First Off The Block?

Educomp Solutions Limited (formerly Educomp Datamatics Limited), New Delhi based learning content provider for K-12, has invested $1.5 million to set up a content development centre in Bangalore. This will cater exclusively to global markets. A team of 100 people, including animators, subject experts and structural designers and translators in various languages, is already working at this centre to create high quality content aligned to global learning standards. Another 300 people will be added in the next six months. Read the full article...

Click here for Educomp's IPO profile

Blackboard and WebCT Announce Agreement to Merge

Two leading providers of enterprise software and services to the education community, Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) and WebCT, Inc., today announced a definitive agreement to merge. Under terms of the agreement, Blackboard will acquire WebCT in a cash transaction for $180 million, which values the offer at approximately $154 million, net of WebCT's August 31, 2005 cash balance of $26 million.  The ultimate value of the offer will vary depending on WebCT's cash balance at closing.  For more click here