Boston Ventures Picks Up Healthcare Pubs
Haights Cross, the seller of Oakstone Publishing, said it was abandoning its sale efforts of other assets alongside the sale’s announcement.
July 1, 2008
Boston Ventures worked out a deal to acquire the Oakstone Publishing assets of Haights Cross Communications. No terms of the deal were disclosed.
Birmingham, Ala.-based Oakstone publishes healthcare-related content for continuing education programs and newsletters, including TopHealth and Personal Best Healthlines, covering the health and wellness markets. The two businesses are split up into its Oakstone Medical and Personal Best operating units, respectively.
For Haights Cross Communications, the sale represents just a partial victory. The company, alongside news of the sale, said it was halting its efforts to divest its test-preparation and intervention group Triumph Learning and its audiobook-publishing unit Recorded Books. Haights Cross president and chief executive Paul Crecca cited the difficult environment in suspending the sales efforts.
“Conditions in the capital markets, particularly in the leveraged finance market, remain challenging,” he said in a statement. “With these factors, and considering the timeframe in which sale transactions could be completed, the HCC board of directors has concluded that the company should suspend the sales efforts.”
The new owners of Oakstone, however, believe the company's brand can grow with a renewed focus on the business. “Oakstone is a strong company that has suffered somewhat from lack of investment,” Matt Kinsey, a principal at Boston Ventures, said in a statement.
He added that the firm was attracted to the company’s concentration on the medical education and health and wellness segments, areas that he said have appealing growth characteristics.
The firm has installed Bob Amato as the executive chairman at the company. Amato is the former president and CEO of past Boston Ventures portfolio company Jobson Publishing. Nancy McMeekin, meanwhile, will maintain her role as the president and CEO at Oakstone.
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