M&A Deals of the Year: Pearson-Connections Education
The Deal – Vyvyan Tenorio
20-Jan
When virtual education company Connections Education LLC began about a decade ago, it was a startup in an industry that didn’t yet exist. Online schooling was slowly taking root to complement or augment traditional public schools. But it was early days for e-learning, and there was no shortage of detractors. By 2011, Connections was billed as the second-largest K-12 provider — with about $200 million in revenue as of September and no debt — but it was too small to withstand the vagaries of a public company. Yet it was attractive to strategic buyers in education trolling for growth assets. U.K. publishing giant Pearson plc wanted it most, paying $400 million for Connections in a deal announced in September.
