Thomson Unloads Education Assets

Thomson (TOC Quote) agreed to sell its higher-education assets to funds advised by Apax Partners and Omers Capital Partners for $7.75 billion in cash.

The deal includes educational, career-related and library reference books under brands such as Wadsworth, Gale and Delmar Learning. Thomson also will sell Nelson Canada, a provider of books and online resources for the educational market in Canada.

Thomson has been seeking a buyer for its Thomson Learning division since October. Aside from the higher-education assets, the division includes NETg, a corporate training business, and Prometric, an assessment-services provider.

Thomson sold NETg to Skillsoft (SKIL Quote) for $285 million, and it is seeking a buyer for Prometric.

The sale comes as Thomson is in talks to buy British financial-data giant Reuters (RTRSY Quote). Thomson confirmed earlier this week that it approached Reuters about a potential deal, which would be valued at more than $17 billion.