Apax takes over French education business Inseec

The deal is currently awaiting approval from France's anti-trust authorities and is expected to close before the end of the year.

Apax France currently invests from Apax France VIII, which closed on €700m in 2011. The GP, alongside LBO France, recently sold French home decorations and furniture retail business Maisons du Monde to Bain Capital for around €650m - close to 8x EBITDA.

The private equity house had been on the lookout for investment opportunities in the higher education sector for several years, and set its sights on Inseec based on its established position in an otherwise fragmented market. This is the GP's first investment in the sector.

Apax intends to expand Inceec's portfolio of programs and increase the number of campuses and exchanges it operates with international universities.

The auction process was handled by Morgan Stanley on behalf of the vendor. Apax faced competition from two US education groups for the asset, namely KKR-backed Laureate and Providence portfolio company Galileo. Other trade players as well as a handful of French private equity houses also took part in the process.

Debt
Apax turned to a unitranche facility to leverage the purchase, although details of the provider(s) remain confidential. The GP stated the characteristics of unitranche made it the ideal choice in order to free up resources for Inseec's growth.

Company
Founded in 1975, Insecc offers specialised education in several areas, including management, luxury products, oenology, communications, health, tourism and high performance sport.

The group operates 12 schools, including some in the US and the UK, and caters to 14,500 students. It employs around 750 staff and generated revenues of $128.6m in 2012, according to Career Education Corporation.

People
Bertrand Pivin led the deal for Apax.

Advisers
Equity - Linklaters, Vincent Ponsonnaille, Edouard Chapellier, Laurent Victor Michel (Legal); De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, Jean-François Pourdieu, Yannick Le Gall (Legal); : Rothschild Transaction R, Pierpaolo Carpinelli, Pierre Sader (M&A); Deloitte, Sami Rahal, Quy Chau Nguyen (Financial due diligence); Stéphane Blanchard, Eduardo Kasahara (Commercial due diligence); Taj, Sophie Blegent, Olivier Venzal, Jerome Gertler, Eric Hickel, Abdelmalik Douaoui, Fanny Marchiset (Legal, tax, social due diligence); Exfi, Emmanuel Parmentier, Joanna Tirbakh (ESG due diligence).

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• Topics
• France
• Consumer
• Buyouts
• Apax France SA
• France
• Mid-market buyout