Jacobs Holding sells down stake in Cognita

Jacobs Holding will retain a majority stake in the firm. The firm bought Cognita from KKR and Bregal Investments in September 2018, in a deal that gave the company an enterprise value of €2bn, equivalent to 26x Cognita’s EBITDA as of August 2018.

Cognita operated an acquisitive strategy under the ownership of Bregal and KKR, growing from 60 schools in 2013 to 70 in 2018. Since Jacobs Holding bought the company, it has acquired two more schools.

BDT Capital Partners provides family- and founder-led businesses with flexible financing and manages more than $9bn across its investment funds. Sofina, a family-run and controlled investment company, makes investments between €75m and €200m for minority stakes in companies with an enterprise value of between €250m and €3bn.

Previous funding
Bregal founded Cognita in 2004 via the £57m buyout of 17 schools from West Private Equity portfolio company Asquith Court Schools. KKR then acquired a 50% stake in Cognita in a deal valuing the company at £540m in 2013, with Bregal retaining a stake in the business.

Company
Headquartered in Milton Keynes and founded in 2004, Cognita owns and operates 72 schools spanning eight countries. The company employs 7,000 teaching and support staff in the education of more than 43,000 students in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

People
Jacobs Holding - Patrick De Maeseneire (CEO).
BDT Capital Partners - Björn Robens (partner).
Sofina – Victor Casier (member of the executive committee).
Cognita – Chirs Jansen (CEO).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Exits
• Consumer
• DACH
• Switzerland
• Minority investing
• Partial sale