Delta Education
The Wicks Group bought this New Hampshire-based publisher of science and math curricula in 2001 for an estimated $40 million, including debt. It sold it in August 2005 to School Specialty Inc., another education publisher, for $272 million--a cool 580% profit.
Wilks Broadcasting
Wicks financed the creation of this Atlanta-based radio-station holding company in 2000, putting some $26 million behind Jeff Wilks to pick up three Michigan stations that Citadel was forced to sell to allay antitrust concerns. It went on to acquire stations in midsize markets from New Orleans to Des Moines. It sold off these stations in two transactions in 2003 for a total of $189 million.
North Dakota Television Holdings
This company, formed in 2002 by Wicks, JPMorgan Partners and Halyard Capital, aimed to acquire underdeveloped television stations in midsize markets. It eventually owned several affiliates in North and South Dakota. The assets were sold in January 2007 to Hoak Media for $87 million.
Wicks Business Information
Founded in 1999, this company acquires business-to-business publications and related concerns. In 2004, it sold Alternative Investor Group to Dow Jones for $85 million.
Jobson Publishing
Wicks bought this leading specialty health-publishing and -information company in May 2005 and has combined it with other medical-information companies it has acquired.
Wicks Sports Information
The vehicle for Wicks' May 2004 purchase of The Daily Racing Form for a reported $75 million. The 113-year-old publication is considered the Bible of thoroughbred horse racing.
Allegiance Communications
Acquired smaller cable-television systems and broadband providers, then turned over management to Buford Media. Bought cable systems in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas from Cox Communications in 2004, and has since added to its holdings in those states.
Heartland Publications
Along with Wachovia Capital Partners, Wicks bought 22 local papers from Community Newspaper Holdings in April 2004 for a reported $90 million. It now owns close to 35 papers, including such publishing titans as the Gallipolis Daily Tribune of Pomeroy, Ohio, and the Sampson Independent of Clinton, North Carolina.
Wicks Educational Publishing
This holding company bought EMC, a Minnesota-based publisher of textbooks and other print and electronic materials for the high-school and post-secondary-school market, in April 2005, taking the company private for $44.1 million.
Wilks Broadcast Group
Wicks' third private-equity fund has once again teamed up with Jeff Wilks to acquire more mid-market radio stations around the U.S. It recently completed the $138 million acquisition of seven CBS stations around Kansas City, Missouri, and Columbus, Ohio.
