News

Alpine Investors has agreed to acquire the Riverside clinical and standardized testing portfolio of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $140 million. Lazard Middle Market provided financial advice to HMH on the deal while WilmerHale acted as HMH’s legal counsel.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE) Alpine Investors VI and VI-A, LP and its affiliates (together “Alpine”) has entered into an agreement to acquire the Riverside clinical and standardized testing portfolio of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in a corporate carve-out for a purchase price of $140 million. The Riverside clinical and standardized testing portfolio includes, among others, the well-regarded brands Cognitive Abilities Test (“CogAT”), Iowa Assessments, Woodcock Johnson, and Battelle Developmental Inventory (“BDI”).

Alpine has named Rajib Roy as the CEO of Riverside. Roy brings with him nearly thirty years of experience in post M&A integration, business transformation and sustained growth in multiple industries. Roy has served as CEO and President in multiple privately held and public companies in his past. In this role, Roy will report directly to the Board.

“We are very excited about the prospect of growth in the assessment and clinical markets and find Riverside to be very well positioned to capture that growth through investments in technology, analytics and human talent,” said Roy. “We further find Alpine to be the perfect partner in that journey with its commitment to continue to invest in this market and its industry-leading focus on investing in people first.”

Providing a smooth transition and continuity of services for HMH and Riverside customers will be a priority for both teams.

“HMH is confident that the Riverside portfolio will excel with Alpine Investors; our teams share a commitment to the success of the students and educators we serve,” said Andrew Matorin, SVP, Corporate Development, HMH. “Riverside, Alpine and HMH will work closely together throughout the transition process so that customers continue to receive the high-quality services that they know and trust.”

“The Riverside team has done an exceptional job creating real brand equity and trust behind its products. Alpine is excited to help drive growth for these brands and products via digital transformation,” said Dan Sanner, Partner at Alpine Investors.

The Riverside clinical and standardized testing portfolio contributed approximately $80 million in billings to HMH in 2017.

Lazard Middle Market served as exclusive financial advisor to HMH and WilmerHale acted as HMH’s legal counsel.

About Riverside
Riverside is a leading provider of classroom and clinical assessments. It has over 80 years of foundational and industry leading research, and 18,000 customers nationwide. Riverside is comprised of several iconic, leading brands that are trusted by educators, administrators, psychologists, researchers, and hospitals.

CogAT is the leading K-12 assessment in measuring students’ verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning abilities. This assessment is used most commonly for placement into gifted programs for students. Iowa Assessments has been a leading research-based assessment tool for measuring student achievement for over 80 years. Thousands of psychologists and clinicians throughout the country trust Riverside’s Woodcock Johnson and Battelle Developmental Inventory (“BDI”) assessments to diagnose developmental delays and cognitive impairments.

About Alpine Investors
Alpine Investors is a software and services focused private equity firm that specializes in majority buy-outs of founder owned businesses and corporate carve-outs. Alpine differentiates itself through its PeopleFirst strategy, which is founded on the belief that the key to building enduring companies is working with, learning from and developing exceptional people. Alpine offers a unique CEO-in-Residence (CIR) program where Alpine partners with CEOs first and places them into companies as part of the transaction. This provides a unique solution for founders and companies that desire additional management support post-transaction. Through its CIR program, Alpine has deployed more than 20 CEOs into companies since 2013. Alpine is based in San Francisco, CA and has over $1.3 billion of assets under management. For more information, visit www.alpine-investors.com.