E-learning firm sold for £4.75m in cash

3:19pm Tuesday 17th June 2008

A leading e-learning company has been sold to a private investor in a multimillion-pound deal.

Andrew Brode paid business-to-business media group Huveaux £4.75 million in cash for Epic, based in Old Steine, Brighton, in a move which sees the company return to private hands for the first time since 1996.

A chartered accountant by profession, Mr Brode has developed and managed major companies including Croner, Wolters Kluwer (UK) and IRS Eclipse.

He is executive chairman and major shareholder in RWS Holdings, Europe's leading provider of intellectual property support services, which he floated on the AIM in 2003.

Epic will add significant value to Mr Brode's portfolio of private investments which include a leading digital marketing business, an insurance industry data provider and a B2B investment publisher.

Jonathan Satchell, a close friend of Mr Brode, was appointed as Epic's managing director in December last year and will continue in his role.

Mr Brode said the strength of the Epic brand, which has had an award-winning track record in providing bespoke e-learning and knowledge solutions for 20 years, convinced him to shell out the money.

The company has built up a number of lasting relationships with public and private sector clients, including the Home Office, Royal Mail, Standard Life and Visa International.

Mr Brode said: "I have watched with interest as the e-learning industry has developed over the last decade and believe that it has now reached the stage of maturity that makes it appropriate to invest. Epic's brand and reputation make it the obvious choice and I firmly believe that under private ownership it will continue to deliver exceptional learning solutions to its clients.

"I have known Jonathan for over 20 years and am delighted to be working with him and the team at Epic."

Mr Satchell added: "Epic has been through a significant amount of change in the last six months.

It is a very special organisation and the team here have worked immensely hard in that time.

"We are in good shape. In the first five months of this year, we have taken as much as we did in the whole of last year."

Mr Satchell said he was looking forward to working with Mr Brode. "Andrew is very, very experienced and he has been my business mentor for many years and we will be very comfortable working together. He met the management team and everyone seemed very pleased."

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