goetzpartners advised Sanoma

goetzpartners advised Sanoma on the sale of the Stark exam preparation business in Germany

goetzpartners was mandated as exclusive M&A advisor by Sanoma Corporation ("Sanoma") on the sale of Stark Verlag GmbH ("Stark"). Stark, an exam preparation business in Germany, which Sanoma acquired together with the Italian K12 learning content business from Pearson in August 2022, was sold to the original founder of the business, Mr. Stark.

The divestment focuses Sanoma Learning’s portfolio and is in line with its strategy to grow its leading blended offering of digital and print for K12 in key operating markets.

goetzpartners acted as sole and exclusive M&A sell-side advisor to Sanoma. The transaction further underlines our competence in advising M&A transactions in the education and publishing space.

About Stark
Stark is Germany's market leader in the field of exam preparation. Over the past 40 years, Stark books helped more than 20 million students throughout Germany to pass their exams and start their careers. Stark employees put all their energy into developing new books and digital offerings that correspond to the curricula of the individual federal states and at the same time are geared towards the latest developments in education. In 2023, Stark’s net sales were approx. €14m and the company employed 56 people.

About Sanoma
Sanoma is an innovative and agile learning and media company impacting the lives of millions every day. Sanoma's Finnish media provide independent journalism and engaging entertainment while Sanoma's learning products and services enable teachers to develop the talents of every child to reach its full potential. Sanoma offers printed and digital learning content as well as digital learning and teaching platforms for primary, secondary and vocational education. Sanoma operates in twelve European countries and employs more than 5,000 professionals. In 2022, the net sales amounted to approx. €1.3bn and the operational EBIT margin excl. PPA was 14.6%. Sanoma shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.

Transaction team:

Dr. Jan-Hendrik Röver
Managing Director
Email

Adelin Trusculescu
Director

Rosa Frehen
Associate

Christian Harms
Analyst