M&A Deal Summary

Riverdeep Group Acquires The Learning Company

On September 6, 2001, Riverdeep Group acquired software company The Learning Company from The Gores Group, Crosslink Capital and Centre Partners Management for 60M USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Riverdeep Group’s 1st transaction in the Software sector.
  • This is Riverdeep Group’s largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Riverdeep Group’s 1st transaction in the United States.
  • This is Riverdeep Group’s 1st transaction in Iowa.

M&A Deal Summary

Date 2001-09-06
Target The Learning Company
Sector Software
Buyer(s) Riverdeep Group
Sellers(s) The Gores Group
Crosslink Capital
Centre Partners Management
Deal Type Add-on Acquisition
Deal Value 60M USD

Target

The Learning Company

Hiawatha, Iowa, United States
website
The Learning Company (TLC) is an American educational software company, founded in 1980. It produced a grade-based system similar to Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart series. The products for preschoolers through second graders feature Reader Rabbit, and software for more advanced students features The ClueFinders. The company also purchased the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Riverdeep Group

Dublin, Ireland

website


Category Company
Sector Software
DESCRIPTION

Riverdeep is a publisher of educational and productivity software for both children and adults. All the products are produced and distributed in CD-ROM format and sales are primarily in the US. It publishes one of the largest catalogues of digital education and productivity brands - many of which are leading titles in their categories.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 1
Sector (Software) 1 of 1
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 1 of 1
State (Iowa) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 1 of 1
Year (2001) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1

Seller(S) 3

SELLER

The Gores Group

Beverly Hills, California, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

website


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1987
PE ASSETS 4.0B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION
The Gores Group's headquarters in Beverly Hills, California.
The Gores Group's headquarters in Beverly Hills, California.

The Gores Group is a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses. Gores considers investments across Europe and North America and typically seeks non-core assets of public corporations. While Gores is a generalist investor, the firm has a particular interest in technology, telecommunications, business services, and industrial companies. The Gores Group was formed in 1987 and has offices in Beverly Hills, California, and Boulder, Colorado.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 5 of 65
Sector (Software) 2 of 7
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 3 of 30
State (Iowa) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 5 of 51
Year (2001) 2 of 2
Size (of disclosed) 6 of 7
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2001-07-01 VeriFone Systems

San Jose, California, United States

VeriFone Systems, Inc. is a provider of secure electronic payment technologies. VeriFone provides solutions, services, and expertise that enable electronic payments. The Company's products and services include mobile, countertop and self-service payment devices, software, and web-based gateways. VeriFone Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2001-11-21 Vicorp Group

Berkshire, United Kingdom

Vicorp Group Ltd. is a global provider of communications convergence technologies for wireline, wireless and IP-based communications services providers and enterprise organizations around the world.

Buy -
SELLER

Crosslink Capital

San Francisco, California, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

website


Category Growth Capital Firm
Founded 1989
PE ASSETS 3.0B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Crosslink Capital is a growth-oriented investment firm focused on technology companies. Crosslink's typically invests in early-stage companies, however, the Firm will consider opportunities at every stage, from seed to pre-IPO to PIPE offerings. Sectors of interest include communications/infrastructure services, core technology, semiconductors, internet, and software. Crosslink Capital is based in San Francisco, California.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 4 of 60
Sector (Software) 1 of 10
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 2 of 43
State (Iowa) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 4 of 59
Year (2001) 1 of 2
Size (of disclosed) 14 of 17
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2001-05-08 BlueArc

San Jose, California, United States

BlueArc Corp. is a provider of the performance and scalable enterprise-class network attached storage systems. BlueArc Corporation delivers the world's highest-performance and most scalable enterprise-class network attached storage (NAS) systems.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2001-11-20 Magma Design Automation

San Jose, Arkansas, United States

Magma Design Automation, Inc. is a provider of TektonTM, a next-generation timing analysis platform that offers significantly higher capacity and dramatically faster runtimes than traditional tools, without sacrificing accuracy. Tekton is the first static timing analysis solution to deliver fast multi-scenario analysis on a single CPU.

Sell -
SELLER

Centre Partners Management

New York, New York, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

website


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1986
PE ASSETS 2.6B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Centre Partners is a private equity firm focused on investments in North American middle-market companies 'with strong growth prospects, predictable cash flows, and defensible competitive positions'. Prospective transactions include investments in privately owned companies, growth capital financings, management buyouts/buy-ins, divestitures, and take privates. The Firm's typical investment size is $10 to $50 million. Areas of interest include consumer products and services, cable/media, business services, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, and retail. Centre Partners was formed in 1986 and has offices in New York, New York and Los Angeles, California.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 3 of 31
Sector (Software) 1 of 1
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 1 of 11
State (Iowa) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 3 of 30
Year (2001) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 6 of 6
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2000-09-30 The Learning Company

Hiawatha, Iowa, United States

The Learning Company (TLC) is an American educational software company, founded in 1980. It produced a grade-based system similar to Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart series. The products for preschoolers through second graders feature Reader Rabbit, and software for more advanced students features The ClueFinders. The company also purchased the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2002-07-04 Catlin Group

Hamilton, Bermuda

Catlin Group Ltd. is a specialty insurance and reinsurance provider . Areas of expertise include Marine, Professional Indemnity, Aviation, Energy, and Industrial. Catlin's property catastrophe reinsurance and marine businesses are viewed as 'Best in Class' at Lloyd's.

Buy $532M