Sanoma Acquires De Boeck’s Educational Publishing Activities in Belgium


Sanoma Corporation, Press Release, 17 June 2016 at 14:00 CET+1

Sanoma has acquired the K-12 educational publishing activities of Group De Boeck in Belgium from Ergon Capital Partners III. De Boeck is a well-known and trusted brand with a strong market position.

The acquisition comprises two companies - De Boeck Education and De Boeck Digital with combined revenues of EUR 17 million in 2015. De Boeck will be integrated with Van In, Sanoma Learning’s existing operations in Belgium, thereby further strengthening Sanoma’s offering of high quality learning solutions.

“Demand from our customers for multi-channel learning solutions is increasing. By combining the complementary positions of Van In and De Boeck we can bring more scale to our digital investments across a broader portfolio of high quality learning materials and also realize synergies in our operations” says John Martin, CEO of Sanoma Learning.

“The combination of Van In and De Boeck will be better positioned to help children to achieve good learning outcomes, to create more engagement for learning and to better support the work of teachers. More than ever we will enable the education of the future” says Winfried Mortelmans, Managing Director of Van In.

Additional information
CEO of Sanoma Learning, John Martin, tel. +31 6 1228 3912
Managing Director of Van In, Winfried Mortelmans, tel. +32 476 409 526
Sanoma’s Investor Relations, Pekka Rouhiainen, tel. +358 40 739 5897

About De Boeck

De Boeck is a leading education publisher focused on high quality educational content tailored to the need of students, teachers and educational institutions. The company has a large network of quality authors in Flanders and the French Community which consists of Brussels and Wallonia.

About Sanoma

Sanoma is an inspiring, relevant and trusted consumer media and learning company.  Ever since its formation in 1889, the company has held creativity and independent thinking at its core in order to deliver high-quality content in new and different ways.

Sanoma’s consumer media business provides consumers with engaging and personalised content through cross-media brands that touch their lives. Sanoma’s close relationships with its consumers enable the company to offer unique value-added marketing solutions to its business partners.

Sanoma Learning’s learning solutions enable teachers to excel at developing the talents of every child, creating opportunities for children to advance their prospects in life.

With operating companies in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Sweden, Sanoma realised net sales of more than EUR 1.7 billion in 2015. The company employed over 6,000 employees.