Charterhouse buys Skillsoft in SBO

The transaction is believed to be valued at more than $2bn, according to media reports.

Advent, Bain and Berkshire acquired Skillsoft in February 2010 via the newly created holding company SSI Investments III. The three firms took the company private for $1.1bn, $605m of which was provided as a senior debt package from Morgan Stanley and Barclays Group, according to unquote" data.

Company
Founded in 1998, Skillsoft is headquartered in Dublin with additional offices in London, Düsseldorf, Melbourne and several in the US.

Skillsoft provides e-learning services for businesses, governments and education providers, offering solutions such as IT certification and training, government training, legal compliance training and project management certification.

The company claims to have more than 6,000 customers and 19,000 learners using its services. It recorded turnover of $379.9m for the year ending January 2013, as well as an adjusted EBITDA of $151.1m.

People
Chuck Moran is the CEO of Skillsoft. Frank van den Bosch is a partner at Charterhouse, while Michael Ascione is a managing partner at Berkshire.

Advisers
Equity – Barclays (Corporate finance); Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Legal).
Company – Deutsche Bank Securities (Corporate finance); Ropes & Gray (Legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Buyouts
• Support services
• UK / Ireland
• Exits
• Ireland
• Secondary buyout
• Advent International
• Charterhouse Capital Partners
• Bain Capital Europe
• Berkshire Partners