National Education Nears Israeli Acquisition

National Education Corp. said Monday that it has reached a definitive agreement to buy Edunetics Ltd., an Israeli company that develops and markets instructional software systems for teaching in the United States.

Irvine-based National Education said it will pay $12 million, or about $2 per share, for Edunetics, which would operate as part of Steck-Vaughn Publishing Corp., an Austin, Texas, publisher of supplemental education materials that is about 83% owned by National Education.

The transaction must be approved by Edunetics shareholders and Israeli regulators.