Apollo to buy McGraw-Hill education unit for $2.5 bn

McGraw-Hill said today it agreed to sell its education unit for USD 2.5 billion, allowing the group to focus on financial operations including its Standard & Poor's brand.

The deal calls for McGraw-Hill Education, which produces textbooks and digital educational materials, to be sold to investors led by Apollo Global Management, in a sale expected to close in late 2012 or early 2013. After closing, McGraw-Hill will be renamed McGraw Hill Financial, and will concentrate on its brands including Standard & Poor's, S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P Capital IQ, Platts and JD Power and Associates. "Today's transaction marks a transformative time for our company, shareholders, customers and employees," said Harold McGraw III, chairman and chief executive of The McGraw-Hill Companies. "This move builds on McGraw-Hill's strong legacy and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to focus on accelerating the growth of our iconic brands and leading franchises. "As technology produces more and more data in a complex world, our leading brands provide essential intelligence and independent benchmarks across asset classes and markets." McGraw-Hill said its remaining assets will make it "a high-growth, high-margin benchmarks, content and analytics company in the global capital and commodities markets." Without the education unit, McGraw-Hill will have customers in more than 150 countries and revenue of approximately USD 4.4 billion.