Deal Details

GL Education Is Acquired by Renaissance Learning

Technology & Services

GL Education, a portfolio company of LLCP, acquisition by Renaissance, a portfolio company of Blackstone and Francisco Partners

Summary

GL Education, a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”) has been acquired by Renaissance Learning, Inc. (“Renaissance”), a portfolio company of funds affiliated with Blackstone and Francisco Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Baird served as exclusive financial advisor to GL Education and LLCP on this transaction.

About

GL Education (known in the UK and Ireland as GL Assessment), founded in 1980 and based in London, England, was created to help educators ensure children realise their full potential with a “whole-child” approach to formative assessment. Today, it delivers over 9 million assessments annually to schools and school groups in over 100 countries, providing educators with an accurate measure of their students’ abilities and academic progress – as well as identifying barriers to learning they may have. GL Education’s formative assessments are rigorous, academically sound, and in line with best practices in education.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, LLC is a middle-market private equity firm with a 39-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including Franchising & Multi-unit, Business Services, Education & Training and Engineered Products & Manufacturing. LLCP utilises a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. LLCP believes that by investing in a combination of debt and equity securities, it offers management teams growth capital in a highly tailored, flexible investment structure that can be a more attractive alternative than traditional private equity. LLCP’s global team of dedicated investment professionals is led by nine partners who have worked at LLCP for an average of 19 years. Since inception, LLCP has managed approximately $13.3 billion of institutional capital across 15 investment funds and has invested in over 100 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages $8.9 billion of assets and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, London, Stockholm, The Hague and Frankfurt.

Renaissance is a global leader in assessment, reading, and math solutions for pre-K–12 schools and districts committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. Their portfolio includes solutions for assessment, practice, data-driven insights and teacher-facilitated instructional delivery.

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms and was founded in 1985. Blackstone seeks to create positive economic impact and long-term value for its investors, the companies it invests in, and the communities in which it works. Blackstone does this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Blackstone's $975 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.

Francisco Partners is a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has invested in more than 400 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. With approximately $45 billion in capital raised, Francisco Partners invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential.

Technology & Services

GL Education, a portfolio company of LLCP, acquisition by Renaissance, a portfolio company of Blackstone and Francisco Partners