Hodder Education Group acquires Illuminate Publishing

(July 2021)

Bertoli Mitchell is delighted to announce that it advised the directors and shareholders of Illuminate Publishing in the sale of 100% of the shares to Hodder Education Group (part of Hachette UK).

Bertoli Mitchell served as the exclusive sell-side M&A advisor to the shareholders, working closely with them at every stage, from assisting in initiating the transaction, through structuring and negotiating the deal to completion. Terms have not been disclosed.

Lis Tribe, Managing Director of Hodder Education Group, commented: “Illuminate has over the past 11 years built an extremely successful and distinctive list of titles supporting UK qualifications especially from WJEC and key A level subjects such as Psychology, and we have enjoyed competing with them during this time. I am delighted that the shareholders chose to sell their business to Hodder Education to grow and nurture it for years to come.”

Illuminate’s owners Rick and Clare Jackman and Peter and Saskia Burton will work with Hodder for a transitional period. They commented: “We are hugely grateful to Bertoli Mitchell for the extraordinarily professional service they provided from first contact up to completion. We had heard from various sources that they were highly effective M&A advisors to the publishing industry, but they exceeded our expectations in literally every respect. We sincerely thank Natalina and her team for all their incredible work on our behalf.”

The trade press announcement is here.