Huveaux announced that it has sold its e-Learning subsidiary Epic Group plc to a private investor for £4.75m in cash. The proceeds from the sale of this business will be used to reduce further the bank debt of the Group.
In the year ended 31st December 2007, this business contributed an EBITDA of £259k to the Group. As stated in the Annual Report & Accounts, the Board of Huveaux has been considering the strategic options for some of its business units going forward. Following this disposal, and the disposal of the French Healthcare Business earlier in June 2008, the Board believes that, with much reduced debt, the Group is now better positioned to concentrate on its core business segments of Politics and Education and to drive growth at the high margins that these businesses offer.
Epic has been acquired by a private investor with extensive corporate and organisational learning and development interests. On 12 June 2008 Huveaux plc sold Brighton based Epic to Andrew Brode. He has been involved with a number of training businesses as Chairman of Financial Training and Key Training in the 1980's. In the 1990's he was Chairman of the City of London Business Link and on the board of Focus Central London.
A chartered accountant by profession, Andrew has developed and managed major companies including Croner, Wolters Kluwer (UK) and IRS Eclipse. Today he is executive Chairman and the major shareholder in RWS Holdings plc, Europe's leading provider of intellectual property support services which he floated on AIM in 2003. Epic will add significant value to Andrew's portfolio of private investments which include a leading digital marketing business, an insurance industry data provider and a B2B investment publisher.
Jonathan Satchell who was appointed by Huveaux plc as Epic's MD in December 2007 will continue as Epic's CEO.
Commenting on the acquisition Andrew said:
"I have watched with interest as the e-learning industry has developed over the last decade and believe that it has now reached the stage of maturity that makes it appropriate to invest. Epic's brand and reputation make it the obvious choice and I firmly believe that under private ownership it will continue to deliver exceptional learning solutions to its clients. I have known Jonathan for over 20 years and am delighted to be working with him and the team at Epic."
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