2009 Key Highlights
- Transaction value in the Education industry
was $4.69 billion, on 159 announced
transactions. Financially sponsored
transactions accounted for 47 percent of
the value, or $2.31 billion, of closed deals.
- The Postsecondary sector – including
institutions, publishing, technology, and
services businesses – saw the most volume,
with 57 transactions.
- Aggregate transaction value increased
3-fold during the second half of the year
relative to the first half, even with deal
volume down more than 23 percent.
- The Postsecondary sector accounted for
8 out of 10 of the largest transactions,
led by Datatel’s acquisition by Hellman
& Friedman and JMI Equity from fellow
financial sponsor, Thoma Bravo. Six of the
top 10 deals were Postsecondary institutions, led by Apollo Group’s acquisition of U.K.-based
BPP Holdings.
- Publicly listed Nobel Learning Communities was the most active acquirer, announcing the
acquisition of four businesses between April
and September.
2009 vs. 2008 Key Trends
- Total transaction volume decreased 31
percent last year, with 159 announced
transactions in 2009, down from 232 deals
in 2008.
- Total transaction value was down even
more precipitously, declining 50 percent
year-over-year from $9.36 billion in 2008
to $4.69 billion in 2009.
- The Postsecondary sector experienced
only a slight decline in transaction volume
in 2009, down 3 percent from 2008. The
Postsecondary services market bucked
prevailing M&A trends, more than doubling
its transaction volume year-over-year.
- The PreK-12 Sector saw the greatest
decline in activity, down 42% from 87 transactions in 2008 to 45 deals in 2009; the K-12
Schools segment saw the greatest absolute volume decline with 17 announced transactions,
down from 38 in 2008.
Market Overview 2006-2009
Berkery Noyes tracked 771 closed transactions in the global education industry between 2006
and 2009. Of this universe, 279 transactions had disclosed enterprise values, representing
$49.71 billion in aggregate value. Based on the known enterprise values and using a logarithmic
scale, we project the value of the 492 undisclosed transactions to be $7.02 billion, for a total
aggregate enterprise value of education transactions of $56.7 billion from 2006 to 2009.