Marketing and tech firm Brave Bison Group plc is set to complete a £19m swoop for EdTech MiniMBA.
Brave Bison, owner of Social Chain, entered into exclusive negotiations with Centaur Media plc on 9th May. The parties have now agreed the deal.
London-based eLearning business MiniMBA provides MBA-level tuition through an online learning platform to around 6,000 delegates every year and has trained almost 40,000 professionals since inception.
The firm sells directly to marketers, as well as to major brand advertisers looking to train their marketing teams, including American Express, McDonald’s, Google, British Airways, Nestle and Salesforce.
It is led by its founder, ex-London Business School marketing professor, Mark Ritson, and CEO Tim Plyming.
Brave Bison said MiniMBA will form the cornerstone of a new skills and capabilities practice that will sit alongside, but operate independently from, its existing marketing and technology services operations.
The acquisition is expected to increase Brave Bison pro-forma net revenue by 43% to £36.5m and adjusted EBITDA by 80% to £8.1m.
Brave Bison intends to fund the transaction via a new revolving credit facility of £10m – of which £6m will be drawn – and a placing of new ordinary shares to existing and new investors, raising £13.5m.
Ritson will continue to teach MiniMBA courses post-acquisition and will become a top-5 shareholder in Brave Bison as part of a £4m strategic personal investment in the company.
“Today’s marketing professionals are operating in an environment that is more complex than ever. With culture fragmented and technology constantly evolving, the need to move with agility and think strategically has never been more paramount,” said Oliver Green, executive chairman of Brave Bison.
“At a time when the acceleration of AI has our industry looking inward, our focus is firmly outward to the needs of brands and the people behind them. MiniMBA’s mission is to give CMOs and their teams the common language and strategic foundation they need to thrive in this new world.
“We look forward to working closely with the team to reaffirm the power of brand as a global business driver, enabled by AI and underpinned by shared marketing principles.
“This is our eighth acquisition and our largest to date and emphasises our commitment to becoming the marketing and technology partner-of-choice for future-focused brands in innovative ways.”
Ritson commented: “I have been hugely impressed from the very outset with the way Brave Bison operate and their vision for the future.
“We could not have found a better home for MiniMBA and, given the vision and growth mindset that I have seen first-hand, becoming a significant shareholder in Brave Bison and member of the team is enormously attractive.”
Brave Bison currently has a share price of 2.90p and a market cap of £38.62m, compared with 2.62p and £31.24m when negotiations with Centaur were announced on 9th May.