M&A Deal Summary

Apax and OMERS Private Equity Acquire Cengage

On July 5, 2007, private equity firms Apax and OMERS Private Equity acquired education company Cengage from Thomson Reuters for 7.8B USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Apax’s 2nd and OMERS Private Equity’s 3rd transaction in the Education sector.
  • This is Apax’s 2nd and OMERS Private Equity’s largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Apax’s 42nd and OMERS Private Equity’s 3rd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Apax’s 2nd and OMERS Private Equity’s 1st transaction in Massachusetts.
Investment Fate
  • Cengage went bankrupt in 2013.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2007-07-05
Target Cengage
Sector Education
Buyer(s) Apax
OMERS Private Equity
Sellers(s) Thomson Reuters
Deal Type Divestiture
Deal Value 7.8B USD

Target

Cengage

Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Cengage is an education and technology company that offers valuable options at affordable price points, including industry-leading initiative Cengage Unlimited, the first-of-its-kind all-access digital subscription service for higher education. The company embraces innovation to create learning experiences that build confidence and momentum toward the future students want. It also serves K-12, library, and workforce training markets around the world. Cengage was formed in 2014 and is Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Buyer(S) 2

Buyer

Apax

London, United Kingdom

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1981
PE ASSETS 77.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Apax Partners is a mega-sized private equity investment group, operating across the United States, Europe, Israel and Asia. Broad industry sectors of interest include tech & telecom, media, retail & consumer, healthcare, financial services, and business services. Apax will consider both minority and majority investment positions and prefers companies with strong market positions and growth potential. The Firm generally pursues platform acquisitions valued from $1 to $5 billion. Apax Partners was formed in 1981 and is based in London.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 110 of 263
Sector (Education) 2 of 5
Type (Divestiture) 11 of 28
State (Massachusetts) 2 of 5
Country (United States) 42 of 105
Year (2007) 5 of 12
Size (of disclosed) 2 of 54
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-06-18 IntraLinks Holdings

New York City, New York, United States

IntraLinks Holdings, Inc. is a global content collaboration company that provides cloud-based solutions to control the sharing, distribution and management of high value content within and across organizations according to the highest-level of security and the most stringent compliance regulations. Over 90,000 clients, 99% of the Fortune 1000 companies, have depended on Intralinks to digitally transform and simplify critical business processes, and secure high-value information. With a 20-year track record of enabling high-stakes transactions and business collaborations valued at more than $31.3 trillion, Intralinks is a trusted provider of easy-to-use, enterprise strength, cloud-based collaboration technology.

Sell -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-07-16 SMART Technologies

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

SMART Technologies, Inc. is a provider of interactive display ICT products with products including interactive whiteboards, voting devices, pen displays and associated software such as classroom management and web conferencing software. SMART's products are sold to schools worldwide for use in classrooms, and increasingly to government departments and businesses for use in meeting rooms.

Buy -
Buyer

OMERS Private Equity

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1987
PE ASSETS 19.8B CAD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

OMERS Private Equity, Inc. is the private equity arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. OMERS invests in buyout, venture, and mezzanine funds as well as makes direct private equity investments in North American companies with and enterprise value of $200 million to 1.5 billion. Target sectors include manufacturing, financial and business services, industrial and consumer products, transportation, and technology. OMERS Private Equity was formed in 1987 and is based in Toronto, Ontario.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 9 of 56
Sector (Education) 3 of 4
Type (Divestiture) 2 of 3
State (Massachusetts) 1 of 2
Country (United States) 3 of 29
Year (2007) 2 of 4
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 16
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-06-27 Nelson Education

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Nelson Education is an educational publisher providing innovative products and solutions for learners of all ages. Nelson is active in Canada's K-12, Higher Education, Professional Learning and Business, Industry & Government markets, producing the highest quality educational product and services. Nelson Education is based in Toronto, Ontario.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-08-14 Golf Town

Markham, Ontario, Canada

Golf Town is a retailer of golf merchandise. it now operates 32 stores across Canada employing some 1,200 people in the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Golf Town offers products from the leading international manufacturers together with teaching academies, golf simulators and pro shop services. As well, Golf Town provides fast, reliable logo?ing services on this wide range of brand name apparel, equipment, balls and more for corporate tournaments and events.

Buy -

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Thomson Reuters

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Category Company
Founded 1851
Sector Information Services
Employees25,600
Revenue 6.8B USD (2023)
DESCRIPTION
Thomson Reuters' office in Eagan, Minnesota.
Thomson Reuters' office in Eagan, Minnesota.

Thomson Reuters is an information source for businesses and professionals. Thomson Reuters delivers information to decision makers in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, intellectual property and science and media markets. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs people and operates in over 100 countries. Thomson Reuters was originally incorporated in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 10 of 34
Sector (Education) 2 of 4
Type (Divestiture) 8 of 32
State (Massachusetts) 2 of 2
Country (United States) 6 of 22
Year (2007) 3 of 3
Size (of disclosed) 2 of 14
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-07-02 Prometric

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Prometric provides technology-enabled assessment services, providing paper-and-pencil, Internet and computer-based testing solutions. It offers a fully integrated testing system that includes test development, test delivery and data management capabilities. On behalf of more than 400 clients in the academic, professional, government, corporate and information technology markets, Prometric develops and/or delivers assessments through a global network of testing centers in 132 countries as well as direct to candidates via the Internet.

Sell $435M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-08-22 StarMine

San Francisco, California, United States

StarMine Corp. is a provider of analytics, equity research tools and performance ratings to securities analysts.

Buy -
Mergr

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