Barry O’Callaghan, a former investment banker turned software entrepreneur who now controls one of the largest educational publishers in the US, has launched a joint venture with the sovereign wealth fund of Dubai to develop investment opportunities in emerging markets.

Education Media & Publishing Group International is a Cayman-incorporated company spun out from EMPG, Mr O’Callaghan’s Dublin-based holding company through which he controls Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the Boston-based publisher.