itslearning Acquires Dutch Rival Dactique to Lead the Learning Platform Market in the Netherlands

BERGEN, Norway, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, itslearning (http://www.itslearning.eu/) announced that it will acquire a 51% stake in educational technology provider Dactique (http://www.dactique.nl/). This cooperation will make itslearning the largest learning platform provider in the Netherlands, enabling the company to offer even better service and products to the Dutch educational sector.

Norwegian-based educational ICT provider itslearning announced today that it will shortly acquire majority ownership of the Dutch company Dactique. Both companies provide learning platforms and related products to customers in primary, secondary, vocational and higher education.

As a result of the deal, itslearning will establish a subsidiary in the Netherlands, called itslearning Nederland which will combine both Dactique and itslearning's current Dutch operation. itslearning has operated in the Netherlands since 2004 through partners.

itslearning AS CEO Arne Bergby comments: "One of our main goals with this deal is to be able to serve our customer in the Netherlands better. We want to be closer to our customers on the ground so we can offer them even better service and support, and Dactique are known for their strong customer support and service - so joining forces will be advantageous for all."

"We're delighted with the deal," says Quirijn Hamel, Managing Director, Dactique. "After years of fierce competition between the two companies, the new cooperation will give us more room for product development and innovation - which will be good news for educational institutions across the country."

Currently, Dactique provides two products to the education sector in the Netherlands: Dapter (http://www.dapter.nl/), a learning and ePortfolio system; and Teletop (http://www.teletop.nl/) an advanced learning platform. The two products have a combined total of around 400,000 users.

Operations will continue in Dactique's facilities in Enschede, the Netherlands and the management team will remain the same. Dactique and itslearning will now work together to combine the best features of their two learning platforms, while continuing to develop Dapter.

The acquisition will consolidate itslearning AS's position as one of the world's leading learning platform providers with around 180 employees and millions of users.

For more information on itslearning, please visit http://www.itslearning.eu. For more information on Dactique please visit http://www.dactique.nl (in Dutch).

You can find your local itslearning press contact at http://www.itslearning.eu/press

Notes to Editors

About itslearning

Headquartered in Bergen, Norway, itslearning has offices in Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and USA. More than 40% of itslearning's resources are dedicated to product design and development.

About Dactique

Dactique provides a number of products and services to the Dutch education sector, including an advanced learning platform and an e-Portfolio solution. Founded in 2003, the company is headquartered in Enschede.

For more information, please contact:

Arne Bergby, itslearning CEO, Email: [email protected], Phone: +47-9715-7095

Quirijn Hamel, Dactique Managing Director, Email: [email protected], Phone: +31-6-2047-7777

SOURCE itslearning AS