Apollo Looks To Sell Professional Business of McGraw-Hill Education [UPDATED]

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) is seeking buyers for the professional business of McGraw-Hill Education, according to a report from Dana Mattioli and Ryan Dezember of The Wall Street Journal based on information from sources with knowledge about the plan of the private equity firm.

McGraw-Hill Education was acquired by Apollo

McGraw-Hill Education was acquired by Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) for $2.5 billion from McGraw-Hill Companies now doing business as McGraw Hill Financial Inc (NYSE:MHFI). McGraw-Hill Education is a leading publisher of educational materials.

According to sources, the private equity firm is trying to sell AccessMedicine, a medical information business, a reference title business, and a trade-publishing unit, which could be worth a few hundred million dollars.

McGraw-Hill decided to sell its education unit

The former McGraw-Hill Company decided to sell its education unit from its financial business due to demands from its shareholders—Jana Partners LLC and Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan—to restructure Mc-Graw-Hill Education because it is reducing the value of the whole company.

Prior to the acquisition of Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO), the sales performance of McGraw-Hill Education had been declining over the past few years, as schools’ corporations reduce budgets for textbooks. When the private equity firm purchased the education unit, analysts at Piper Jaffray speculated that it would change it into a subscription-based model to make its revenue more predictable.

The textbook industry is struggling as a majority of students opted to buy digital products and subscriptions. Cencage Learning Inc, the second largest publisher of college course materials in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July.

Michael Hansen, chief executive officer of Cencage, previously stated, “The whole industry by and large has been a little bit guilty to not change quickly enough to the new paradigm; Cengage was certainly part of that was an underlying belief that the print model would hold up better than it actually did, particularly recently.”

Apollo announced the completion of the acquisition

Earlier this month, Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) announced the completion of the acquisition of U.S. annuity operations of Aviva Plc (NYSE:AV) (LON:AV) by Athene Holding Ltd, an insurance holding company based in Bermuda. The private equity firm provides asset allocation and related services to Athene, and it is direct managing some of those assets across its investment platform, primarily in its credit business.

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) said it will also provide asset allocation and investment management services to the newly acquired annuity asset of Athene. The private equity firm estimated that its assets under management would increase by approximately $45 billion to $158 billion from the transaction.

Update 12:00 PM EST: Changes in headline.