Oakley backs ICP Education buyout

Greg Gille
01 June 2021

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Oakley Capital has agreed to invest in ICP Education, an independent group of UK childrenтs nurseries.

Oakley will deploy via Oakley Capital Fund IV. The fund held a final close on €1.46bn in July 2019, above its €1.2bn target. It invests tickets of at least €50m in high-growth mid-market companies in the consumer, education and TMT sectors in western Europe.

The GP will invest alongside the management team, led by executive chair Stephen Booty, CEO Dominic Harrison and CFO Clare Wilson.

Listed vehicle Oakley Capital Investments Limited will contribute £27m, through its investment in Oakley Capital Fund IV, for the deal.

In a statement, Oakley said that ICP Education has achieved a "strong" track record of growth since inception. It added that enrolments were negatively impacted by the Covid-19 lockdowns, but that the business has since recovered to pre-outbreak occupancy levels in recent months.

According to Oakley, the UK nursery sector is a £6.7bn market, where a number of nurseries continue to be owned and operated on a single-site basis. The market has grown steadily at 4.5% CAGR between 2010-2019, according to the GP.

Oakley is no stranger to the education sector, with platform investments including Inspired Education, a global schools group; Schülerhilfe, a tutoring group; IU Group (formerly Career Partner Group), a university in Germany; ACE Education, a French university group; and Ocean Technologies Group, a provider of e-learning to the maritime industry.

Following a flurry of education sector deals in Q1 2021, Unquote reported on the drivers behind sponsor interest in the sector, which include digitalisation potential and the reliability of long-term demographic trends. At the time, 10 buyout deals totalling more than €700m had been completed in the sector, according to Unquote Data.

Since then, other deals have crossed the finish line, including Canadian pension fund Omers taking a 25% stake in International Schools Partnership (ISP), an operator of international private schools headquartered in the UK and majority owned by Partners Group, at a €1.9bn valuation.

Company
ICP Education is a nursery operator in the UK, serving nearly 6,000 children at 44 nurseries across England, predominantly in London and the South East.

People
Oakley Capital - Peter Dubens (managing partner).