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Riverdeep eyes up Reed-Elsevier education division
16.02.2007
Thirty-six-year-old Riverdeep boss Barry O’Callaghan has continued on his blitzkrieg approach to acquisitions for the education software firm, this time setting his eye on the education arm of prominent UK publisher Reed Elsevier with an estimated price tag of £2bn sterling.
The news comes just months after it emerged that Riverdeep agreed a deal with US textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin for about US$1.75bn in cash and the assumption of around US$1.6bn in net debt.
Reports citing people familiar with the matter say Barry O'Callghan is very interested in the cost savings that will arise from combining Riverdeep with Reed-Elsevier's educational publishing wing Harcourt Education.
It emerged earlier this week that Reed Elsevier was planning to sell its education business in order to concentrate on scientific, legal and business-to-business publications.
Dublin and San Francisco-based Riverdeep was established in 1995 as a publishing house for CD-ROM and internet-based educational tools. Its growth has been characterised by a series of acquisitions and content deals with prominent US publishers, including Marvel Comics.
The company delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2001 when its stock plummeted to below US$2 in the dot.com fallout.
By John Kennedy
Reports citing people familiar with the matter say Barry O'Callghan is very interested in the cost savings that will arise from combining Riverdeep with Reed-Elsevier's educational publishing wing Harcourt Education.
It emerged earlier this week that Reed Elsevier was planning to sell its education business in order to concentrate on scientific, legal and business-to-business publications.
Dublin and San Francisco-based Riverdeep was established in 1995 as a publishing house for CD-ROM and internet-based educational tools. Its growth has been characterised by a series of acquisitions and content deals with prominent US publishers, including Marvel Comics.
The company delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2001 when its stock plummeted to below US$2 in the dot.com fallout.
By John Kennedy
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