NIIT sells Element K to SkillSoft for $110 mn

IT training company NIIT on Sunday said it had sold its US-based subsidiary, Element K Corporation, to SkillSoft Corporation for $110 million in an all-cash deal.

NIIT had acquired the 700 employee strong Element K for $35 million in 2006. The company has also entered into a long-term services and licensing agreements with SkillSoft to work together for producing new content for SkillSoft’s e-learning content collections for Business, IT and Desktop skills.

“Over the last few years, we have witnessed tremendous growth in our Managed Training Services (MTS) business. To grow, we have to be content and platform agnostic and this deal will help us attract a larger set of customers,” NIIT CEO Vijay Thadani told PTI.

The funds from the deal would be used to strengthen NIIT’s four platforms — MTS, cloud campus, private school venture (NGuru) and University programme (YuvaJyoti), he added.

As of March 31, 2011, Element K contributed about $86 million in NIIT’s total revenues and had 548 employees.

The two companies have worked together in the past on multiple product development initiatives to create e-learning products.

In addition, the two companies intend to collaborate on R&D initiatives for technology-enabled learning and performance support.

“By leveraging SkillSoft’s and NIIT’s joint experience and know-how, we believe there is great opportunity to create new innovations that will make online learning even more broadly embraced by the global market,” SkillSoft CEO Chuck Moran said.