Bowmark exits Oxford International in split deal

Greg Gille
16 March 2021

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Bowmark Capital has reached an agreement to sell its stake in UK-based education business Oxford International Education Group as part of two simultaneous transactions.

Financials of the deal were not disclosed. The company's schools division will be sold to schools organisation Nord Anglia Education, while its university partnerships, online learning and languages businesses will undergo a management buyout backed by THI Investments.

THI is based in London and Stuttgart, and makes direct investments averaging at around £50-150m. It is part of a single family office, but also deploys a €500m direct investing fund, and can back businesses for holding periods longer than the typical five-year PE model. The firm stated its financial support would enable Oxford International to invest in its online education platform and further expand its university partnerships business internationally.

THI's other education assets include Corndel, a UK-based management and digital skills training provider; and Learnship, a US- and Germany-based English language learning business.

Bowmark initially invested in Oxford International in early 2014, securing a minority stake, according to Unquote Data. The deal was an investment for the GP's fourth fund, which closed on £265m in January 2008.

Since Bowmark invested in the group, Oxford International has expanded the scale and scope of its schools and university partnerships businesses, more than doubling overall group revenues, the GP said in a statement. The schools division has grown from one to three independent schools and now comprises d'Overbroeck's, Oxford Sixth Form College and Oxford International College. Meanwhile, Oxford International's university partnerships business secured three new partnership contracts with UK universities, and its first international partnership with Jacobs University in Germany.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in July 2019 that Oxford International was being prepared for a sale, with DC Advisory advising. The auction launched in early 2020, with expectations that the business could fetch a 12x valuation based on education-sector comparables. EBITDA was forecast to grow to £12m in 2020.

However, suitors for the asset started raising concerns about the potential impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the business in February 2020, according to two sources close to the situation.

THI was already involved with the process at that stage, with a view of acquiring the whole business, according to one of the sources. UK sponsors Graphite and Investcorp were among the other parties bidding in the second round, according to the aforementioned Mergermarket report.

The process, which was hitherto close to a conclusion, was put on ice shortly after, one of the sources said.

According to the two sources, the business ended up performing better than expected in lockdown; one of the sources said it outperformed some of its higher-education peers that did not have as much of a focus on online learning to start with.

A restart of the process for the whole of the business was being mulled more recently, but the option of a split sale ended up materialising instead, one of the sources said.

THI and Bowmark declined to comment when contacted by Unquote.

Company
Founded in 1991, Oxford International is an accredited, private education provider that operates international colleges with five universities in the UK and Europe, online courses through its OI Digital Institute, and English-language centres across the UK and North America. It serves 50,000 UK and international students every year through a range of online, blended and campus-based English-speaking courses.

People
THI Investments – Edmund Buckley, Ludger Laufenberg (managing directors).
Bowmark Capital – Simon Adcock (partner).
Oxford International Education Group – Lil Bremermann-Richard (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – DC Advisory (M&A).
Equity (THI) – Lincoln International (M&A); Weil Gotshal & Manges (legal); Deloitte (financial due diligence, tax); EY Parthenon (commercial due diligence); Willis (insurance due diligence).