Barry O'Callaghan, who only eight months ago turned a small school software company into a $5bn educational publishing giant through the reverse takeover of Houghton Mifflin, has sealed a $4bn (£1.97bn) bid for Reed Elsevier's remaining education assets.

The deal, first reported on FT.com, marks a higher than expected sale price for Reed, which put Harcourt Education up for sale in February. It also caps a period of frenetic activity forthe Irish entrepreneur's HM Riverdeep group.