LDC agrees sale of LearnDirect to DTS

The transaction was expected to take place for a "nominal sum" according to a report by the Financial Times, and Sky News reported the deal would save around 1,000 jobs.

The development comes two months after LearnDirect sold its e-assessment division to US-based PSI Services, and 10 months after the company lost a High Court appeal against an "inadequate" rating that followed an inspection by UK education regulator Ofsted.

LearnDirect said at the time of the court case that the company's financial performance had been "significantly impacted" by external factors including "successive central government funding cuts", which had reduced revenues by £100m over the preceding three years.

According to publicly available documents, LearnDirect's EBITDA fell from £14.9m in the 12 months ending in July 2015 to £7.5m in the 18 months to January 2017.

KPMG advised the company's lenders on the transaction, according to Sky News.

Previous funding
LDC wholly acquired LearnDirect from the UFI Charitable Trust in a deal valued at around £40m in October 2011.

Company
Founded in 2000, Sheffield-headquartered LearnDirect is a provider of vocational training.

Advisers
Company – Deloitte (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• LDC
• Trade sale