IDP To Acquire British Council IELTS Test For £130M
- ByStartupStory | July 2, 2021
IDP and British Council, two leading partners of IELTS (International English Language Testing System) , the world’s most renowned high stakes English language test, have announced today that British Council will sell its IELTS business in India to IDP. This means that all IELTS tests in India will be taken by IDP itself. As per the terms of the agreement, IDP will acquire 100% of the British Council IELTS business for £130 million on a debt-free, cash-free basis. It also means that British Council’s employees working on IELTS in India will become a part of the IDP team.
The International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, is the world’s most popular English language test taken by millions of people around the world for study and migration and is trusted by more than 10,000 organizations around the world as a secure and reliable indicator of English language proficiency. “Distributing IELTS through IDP in India will simplify and improve the customer experience for IELTS test takers. As IDP already delivers IELTS in India, the high-quality service provided to IELTS customers will remain the same. To ensure we could continue to deliver on our global cultural relations mission, we explored strategic options for the English examinations business with IDP in India in 2020. The proceeds of the sale will enable British Council to improve its financial position following the impact of Covid-19 on our finances,” said Kate Ewart-Biggs, Interim CEO, British Council.
Andrew Barkla, CEO, IDP said, “This agreement marks the start of a new chapter for IELTS in India. By bringing together two expert teams, test takers can feel confident they are getting the best experience possible when taking their world-leading test. Our test takers can focus on preparing for their test as planned, and our team is here to make sure everything goes smoothly on test day.”
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
