Houlihan Lokey Advises Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press have acquired the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) from Durham University. The transaction closed on 11 June 2019.

CEM is a leader in evidence-based education, providing a suite of online baseline assessment and monitoring systems measuring pupil progress and potential. The organisation has built a comprehensive database of pupil assessment in relation to its six core assessment products—ASPECTS, InCAS, BASE, Yellis, MidYis, and Alis/CEM IBE. CEM is one of the largest and longest established research groups providing formative assessments for children of all ages and is used by education professionals in more than 70 countries around the world.

Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press are both wholly-owned subsidiaries of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge Assessment is an international exams group designing and delivering assessments to more than eight million learners in over 170 countries. It is the parent organisation of exam board OCR, a major provider of GCSE and A-level exams in England. Cambridge University Press is the leading global academic and educational publishing house of the University of Cambridge.

Like Cambridge Assessment, CEM is a not-for-profit, offering high-quality assessment in support of learning. The fit between the organisations is excellent, with CEM assessments providing support in phases of education which complement the existing assessment provision of Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press. Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press.

The deal highlights Houlihan Lokey’s long-standing reputation within, and ongoing commitment to, the education sector. Other recent transactions include advising FPE on the sale of Kallidus, Atlas Knowledge on its sale to Mintra Group, and August Equity on the sale of Minerva Education to Dukes Education Group, as well as advising Oakley Capital on the acquisition of Seagull Maritime, Primary Capital on the acquisition of ICS Learn, and Inflexion on the acquisitions of Times Higher Education and Calco Group. Of the transactions mentioned, Inflexion’s acquisition of Calco was closed at Quayle Munro prior to its acquisition by Houlihan Lokey.