Pearson sets up 50:50 JV with Educomp

Education company, Educomp Solutions, has set up a joint venture (JV) with a British publishing company, Pearson, which will acquire a 50 per cent stake in Educomp’s existing vocational training business for $17.5 million (around Rs 85 crore).

Pearson also announced that it acquired a 17.2 per cent stake in TutorVista, making it the largest shareholder in the Indian online tutoring services firm. With this, it has invested a total of $30 million (around Rs 145 crore) in the two Indian education services providers.

Educomp Solutions’ shares increased 11 per cent to close at Rs 3,427 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). A total of 550,000 shares changed hands in today’s trade.

The JV with Educomp will deliver training, assessment and accreditation across industries “for effective adult learning opportunities”.

Pearson will contribute educational content, faculty and assessor development services, while Educomp will recruit and train faculty, besides offering satellite-based distance education programmes in partnerships with various governments to provide employability training to youth.

“The partnership will address the growing chasm between education and employability in India. Pearson’s vast body of content and experience is a perfect complement to our grassroots business model for the vocational education space,” said Shantanu Prakash, CEO & MD, Educomp Solutions.