KKR and Bregal sell Cognita to Jacobs Holding

The deal gives the business an enterprise value of £2bn, Unquote understands, equivalent to 26x Cognita's EBITDA as of August 2018.

It is understood the sale generated a return of more than 3x for KKR following a holding period of five years.

According to various media reports, CVC, GIC (a shareholder in Unquote parent company Acuris), EQT and Temasek were involved in the bidding process, while Unquote sister publication Mergermarket recently reported that Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) and Cinven were also involved.

Cognita has undertaken an acquisitive international expansion strategy under the joint ownership of KKR and Bregal, growing its number of sites from 64 to 70.

Bregal's investment in Cognita was managed by EMK Capital. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is scheduled for completion in Q4 2018.

A spokesperson for KKR declined to comment, while Unquote was awaiting a response to a request for comment from a Bregal spokesperson.

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 £540m EV deal in 2013, with Bregal retaining a stake in the business.

Company
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Milton Keynes, Cognita is an international independent schools group that teaches the British curriculum from pre-school through to secondary school. The group comprises 70 schools across eight countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

People
KKR – Christian Ollig (managing director).
EMK Capital – Edmund Lazarus (managing partner).
Cognita Schools – Chris Jansen (CEO).
Jacobs Holding – Patrick De Maeseneire (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Goldman Sachs (corporate finance); Barclays (corporate finance).
Acquirer – Bank of America Merrill Lynch (corporate finance).

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

• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• KKR
• Bregal Investments
• Goldman Sachs
• Barclays