Like it or not, education is an industry, and much of the change we see affecting higher ed and K-12 institutions is driven by investment from the private sector. It can be useful to get a high-level view of the trends in private investments to help understand where private companies (edtech vendors, publishers, for-profit institutions, etc) are likely to move in the future.
According to a new year-end report from Berkerey Noyes, a US-based investment banker, merger and acquisition activity in the education industry continued to grow in 2013, with the 9 of the 10 largest deals occurring outside of the US. As summarized at Education Week:
A number of recent reports have shown or predicted a strong and growing demand for various educational products and services in markets such as Latin America, and the new, year-end report on transactions published by Berkery Noyes would seem to reinforce that portrait.
“The big education players are acquiring to help manage the transition from print to digital,” Peter Yoon, managing director of Berkery Noyes’ education group, said in an interview. He said they’re also moving to “strengthen their presence in emerging markets.”
The most active acquirer was Pearson PLC, with six deals that included the “acquisition of Grupo Multi Holding, an English language training company headquartered in Brazil, for $829 million”.
In total there were 295 transactions for a total of $10.2 billion in value, which represented year-over-year growth of 8 and 27% respectively.
Beyond the international growth, there are two other items that jumped out at me – the shift towards strategic buyers and the strong growth in professional training.