Berlin, 24th April, 2009. The Cornelsen Publishing Group has entered into a definitive agreement with Cengage Learning to acquire the largest private distance learning provider in the UK, ICS (International Correspondence Schools, head office in Glasgow), and NTI (head office in Leiden), one of the leading companies in the Dutch market. The acquisition is expected to be completed during this quarter, upon the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions.
The takeover will enable the Cornelsen Publishing Group to extend its portfolio of professional skills training and other content for adult education outside German-speaking countries, and thus to continue to build a truly internationally-active education group. As Dr. Hubertus Schenkel, Managing Director of Cornelsen Holdings, points out: “This step into international adult distance learning reinforces our core competences in the market for media based and vocational further and higher education, a position which we hold today with our private Universities of Applied Sciences and the premium brand, AKAD. At the same time, this step allows us to position ourselves strongly in the international market for educational services.”
With its enrolment figure of 45,000 students, ICS is the leading private provider of distance learning in the UK. Its programme includes a comprehensive list of professional, vocational and leisure distance study courses. In addition, ICS works in association with a number of UK universities to offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as 18 other specialist awarding bodies. ICS also has a significant provision of work-based further education qualifications.
In Europe, the Netherlands has the highest incidence of adults acquiring professional qualifications through distance learning. With over 65 years experience in multi media education, NTI currently has an enrolment figure of approximately 70,000 adults in its comprehensive distance learning courses, and is thus one of the leading organisations in this field. Since 2000, NTI has also offered bachelor and master degrees, both at its own University of Applied Sciences as well as in association with other universities in the Netherlands.
Once the acquisition is complete, ICS and NTI, will be managed from Stuttgart by the newly-established holding company, Metaphora GmbH. Cornelsen Holdings established Metaphora GmbH in late 2008 as a sister company of AKAD, for the purpose of consolidating ICS and NTI, and other potential strategic acquisitions.
The objective of AKAD and Metaphora is to cater to the international market by offering attractive professional qualifications for adults. “We are meeting the needs of people who wish learn while they earn in order to further their skills and qualifications through innovative and flexible educational programmes,” said Hubertus Schenkel “Apart from that, this international network of trans European distance learning specialists will allow our students to benefit from cooperative research programmes, exchange programmes for students and international summer schools, not to mention contemporary qualifications that really meet the needs of 21st Century learners and employers”
With its current student enrolment of approximately 9,000, AKAD Privat-Hochschulen, the AKAD group of distance-study universities of applied sciences, is the largest private distance-study group of its kind in Germany. A total of almost 50,000 adults have successfully completed further-study courses since its inception in 1959. The AKAD group comprises four state-recognised universities and has been part of the Cornelsen Publishing Group since 1999.
The Cornelsen Publishing Group itself has a staff of over 3,000 and a turnover in excess of 400 million euros, and is thus one of the leading educational organisations in Germany. The spectrum of its portfolio ranges from school books to specialist and academic literature, and includes multimedia-based educational material, vocational and academic further study material, as well as tutoring for school pupils.
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Berlin, 20th March, 2009: With the acquisition of a majority stake in the Bibliographic Institute Publisher from Langenscheidt Ltd. and the Brockhaus family, the Cornelsen Publishing Group extends its portfolio to include several renowned trademarks covering reference works, schoolbooks, children’s books and calendars. “The Duden trademark lends us new potential for growth,” explained Dr. Alexander Bob, managing director of Cornelsen Holding. The orthographic edition of the Duden adds a market-leading dictionary to the Cornelsen Publishing Group, while the trademarks Harenberg, Weingarten and Heye are the market leaders in calendar sales by a wide margin. The Langenscheidt and Cornelsen concerns intend, furthermore, to cooperate on domestic and international educational projects.
The Cornelsen Publishing Group has expanded from a family firm to a producer and distributor of educational material from primary and secondary education to professional further training. The publishing profile of the individual companies within the group are synchronized such that Cornelsen is able to provide the optimum support for any and every education context. With the acquisition of a majority stake in the Bibliographic Institute Publisher, Alexander Bob foresees many opportunities for further synergy within the Group. “In the coming months, we will strengthen our efforts to identify cooperative opportunities among the individual subsidiaries and thus expand the leading role of the Cornelsen Publishing Group in the education market.” The established experience of the Mannheim concern in the retail market represents a significant strengthening of the Cornelsen Group in this field.
In 1988, Langenscheidt Ltd. became the majority shareholder in the Bibliographic Institute and Brockhaus PLC. The Bibliographic Institute includes the publishers Duden, Meyers, Duden Paetec Ltd. and the calendar publishers Harenberg, Heye and Weingarten. The Brockhaus family will simultaneously sell its share minority to Cornelsen. The transactions are subject to approval by the Austrian Monopolies and Mergers Commission and are not therefore expected to take place before the second quarter of 2009.
With over 3000 employees and an annual turnover of over 400 million Euros, the Cornelsen Publishing Group is one of the leading educational concerns in Germany The spectrum of products and services for education and knowledge acquisition ranges from schoolbooks, teaching materials and non-fiction works to digital educational media, vocational and academic further-training courses and products, as well as supplementary tuition for primary and secondary pupils.
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