Andera sells Skill & You to IK

IK invested alongside the management team, led by Eric Petco and Sonia Levy-Odier.

The GP has deployed capital from IK IX, which closed on its €2.85bn hard-cap in May 2020. It invests in mid-market companies across France as well as in the Nordic, Benelux and DACH regions, with enterprise values of €100-500m.

Andera hired Transactions & Cie to run the sale process in October 2020, as reported by Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

The sale ends a three-year holding period for the GP, which bought a majority stake in Skill & You by deploying capital from Winch Capital 4, a €445m vehicle targeting French and Italian SMEs with EVs in the €30-300m range.

The transaction saw previous backers 21 Centrale Partners, Access Capital Partners, Jolt Capital and Capital Transmission, as well as corporate Alma Learning Group, exit the investment.

Undera Andera's ownership, the company increased its turnover by around 25% per year, expanded its portfolio across new verticals, such as accounting and management, naturopathy, bakery and fashion, and improved its features, including pedagogical tools and academic support.

The company also signed an e-learning partnership with French institutions to train jobseekers looking for further qualifications or a career change, and began its international expansion by acquiring Spanish e-learning company Ilerna Online.

Following this acquisition, IK plans to further strengthen Skill & You's market position by investing in its training offering and digital platform; reinforcing its presence in the B2G and B2B sectors; and accelerating its international development.

Previous funding
Acto Mezzanine and 21 Centrale first backed Skill & You in 2011.  

In 2016, a syndicate of investors comprising 21 Centrale, Access Capital and Jolt acquired a majority stake in the company, while Acto exited the investment. The deal was valued at around €21m.

Company
Founded in 2003 and based in Paris, Skill & You provides 220 distance learning courses in various fields such as cooking, childcare, mechanics, aesthetics, healthcare, childcare, animal health, IT & digital, accounting, administration, public service, and construction, among others).  

Employing 850 staff, the company counts 120,000 students, primarily across France and Spain. It generated nearly €115m in revenues in 2020.

People
Skill & You – Eric Petco, Sonia Levy-Odier (directors).
Andera Partners – Laurent Tourtois, Sylvain Charignon (partners).
IK Investment Partners – Rémi Buttiaux (managing partner).

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• Andera Partners
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