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Madrid-based Ideal Education Group (IEG), which runs Spanish language teaching brands Enforex and Don Quijote among others, has announced its acquisition of Academia Columbus, which is a three-strong brand of South American language schools, previously owned by the Thebing Travel Group.

New owner of Apple Languages, Jos van Kerkhof of Netherlands-based StudyTravel, has confirmed that with the support of the study travel sector, he is steering the UK-based outbound study agency which he acquired last year towards recovering business vitality. He has set up a new company ALC that is running operations.

In a major transaction in the international schools sector, World Class Learning (WCL) Group has been sold to another major player, Nord Anglia Education, in a deal which sees Sovereign Capital "realise the investment" it made in WCL Group – which operates 11 schools globally – in 2008. The acquisition is said to be worth US$222 million.

UK education group ISIS Education, headquartered in London, UK, has acquired fellow London-based operation, United International College (UIC), an award-winning language training company that runs a school in central London, three residential summer programmes and a large foreign language teaching operation.

Language learning software giant Rosetta Stone has bought online language learning site LiveMocha for US$8.5million in cash, it has disclosed. It said the social community of 16 million learners using online technology to learn and share would help it realise its ambitions to be the most ubiquitous technology-based learning platform in the world.

Regent’s College London, one of Britain's largest private higher education institutions, is to acquire American InterContinental University London—a move it says will make it the largest campus-based provider of American degrees in Europe. It confirmed that it had bought AIUL as a loss-making asset.

Signalling Brazil’s ELT business boom, one of the country's biggest publishers Abril Educação has bought English-language chain Wise Up for 877 million reais (US$444.9 million). Wise Up is present in more than 70 cities in Brazil and around the world, and a sponsor of the 2014 World Cup.

ISIS Education, based in London, UK, has expanded its operations into North America by acquiring Vancouver Maple Leaf College Inc, which operates two English language schools in Canada under the Eurocentres brand.

Ending months of speculation, education partnering organisation INTO University Partnerships has sold a 25% stake to the US private equity firm Leeds Equity Partners for £66 million. INTO will use the investment to provide university partners with capital to fund “innovation and capacity building” projects.

Sweden-based Educatius International has bought the for-profit arm of the education travel provider Council for Education Travel (CET) Group, moving into English language provision. The deal means Educatius, best known for placement in the US, can now offer English language training in Vancouver and London.

Canadian-based CIBT Education Group has entered the youth English language market in China, after buying a 95% stake in Linkman International Language Institute. CIBT plans expansion in this area as well pathways and TESOL.

I-graduate, the market research firm most famous for its surveys on international student experience, has been sold to the major education outsourcer Tribal Group plc for up to £7.5million. Both companies say the deal will increase their data-analytics capabilities; Will Archer will continue as CEO.

Academies Australasia Group, one of Australia's oldest private education companies, has successfully acquired all or part of two more education institutions – expanding its stable of eight colleges in Australia and one in Singapore up to 10. This includes the acquisiton of Melbourne-based language college Discover English for AUS$190,000.

Pearson, one of the world’s biggest education companies, is to pay US$90 million for GlobalEnglish – an online English for business service with significant reach in the developing world. US company GlobalEnglish provides ELT for corporate clients such as HSBC, General Electric and Tata.

Cambridge Education Group (CEG), one of the UK’s leading pathway operators, is to expand globally, making its first foray into international markets with new programmes in Boston and Amsterdam. The news comes after the company's recent announcement of major success and recapitalisation – tripling the size of the business in five years.