TSL

The deal

The teams

The story

TSL (Times Supplements Ltd) is the leading publisher of business to business newspapers, magazines and websites for the UK education market. Prior to its acquisition by Exponent, TSL was a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corporation. The flagship publication is the Times Educational Supplement (TES), read by approximately 500,000 teachers each week.

Exponent appointed an impressive team to run TSL, led by Bernard Gray as CEO and Stuart Wallis as Chairperson. Over the 19 months of Exponent's ownership, we backed the management team in modernising the company’s publications, building out its infrastructure, developing a deeper understanding of its products and customers and moving into new market areas.

The business required and received significant investment in infrastructure and personnel. As a result of these actions, in what had previously been a financially static business, both revenue and profit increased markedly. More significantly however, a clear path to sustained future growth was established.

It was in this context that Charterhouse Capital Partners purchased the business from Exponent in June 2007.