Merger with McGraw-Hill won’t boost textbook prices: Nelson CEO

Nelson Education Ltd., which calls itself “Canada’s leading educational publisher,” has reached a deal to acquire the kinder-garten-to-Grade-12 businesses of one of its main rivals, McGrawHill Ryerson.

The merger will consolidate the lion’s share of textbook publishing in the hands of one Toronto-based company.

“It’s all about the kids,” said Steve Brown, chief executive at Nelson, which has a 103-year history as a textbook publisher in Canada. “It’s all about kids graduating with better scores.”

Nelson already has a potent position in terms of the books and educational materials used by students across Canada, Brown said in an interview from Ottawa. “Ninety-two per cent of kids graduating high school in Canada have been taught on Nelson resources.”

Nelson will take over all the development, production, sales, distribution and marketing for McGraw-Hill’s publishing division for books for grade school and high school, according to a news release. That includes McGrawHill’s books for math, science, English, fine arts, music, social sciences and technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Brown insisted that the takeover will not drive up the price that school boards across Canada pay for textbooks.

“We have cancelled all price increases,” said Brown. “We have been reducing prices across Canada. With our warehouse and supply chain, you gain greater economies of scale.

“It’s not about pushing prices up.”