Graphite sells Education Personnel back to management

It is understood the company was sold for £300m, generating a 6x return for Graphite.

Under Graphite's stewardship, Education Personnel has grown both organically and through acquisitions.

Graphite acquired the company in 2010 when it was known as Teaching Personnel. In 2011, the company was merged with Protocol Education to create Education Personnel.

The company's revenues have grown by 60% over the past four years, while branch numbers have increased from 52 to 67.

Previous investment
Graphite backed the £45m management buyout of Teaching Personnel in 2010 from previous investors RJD Partners.

RJD first invested in the company in July 2007, supporting its £24m management buyout from Barclays Private Equity (now Equistone Partners Europe).

Company
Based in Welwyn Garden City, Education Personnel offers a range of staffing services to schools, providing emergency cover, long term bookings and permanent placements or specialist intervention and tuition support. The company has 16,000 available candidates on its books and works with 7,200 schools in England and Wales.

Teaching Personnel was established in 1996 and Protocol Education in 1994. The company employs 450 people.

People
John Bowman is CEO of Education Personnel. Mike Tilbury is senior partner at Graphite.

Advisers
Vendor – Deloitte Corporate Advisory, Byron Griffin (Corporate finance); Macfarlanes (Legal); Parthenon (Commercial due diligence).
Management – King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (Legal); Wyvern Corporate Finance (Corporate finance).

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• UK / Ireland
• Exits
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• Equistone Partners Europe
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• Intermediate Capital Group