1ST HALF 2016 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • The largest deal in 1st Half 2016 was Apollo Education Group Inc.’s announced acquisition by a consortium of investors for $1.1 billion.
  • The most active acquirer year-to-date, either purchased directly or through an affiliated business, was Vista Equity Partners with five industry transactions: HAIKU Learning Systems, Inc., TIENET, and Interactive Achievement, Inc. through PowerSchool Group in the K-12 Media and Tech segment; TeacherMatch through PeopleAdmin in the K-12 Media and Tech segment; and JumpForward through The Active Network in the Higher-Ed Media and Tech segment. Also of note, Vista Equity acquired PowerSchool Group for $350 million in 2015.

1ST HALF 2016 KEY TRENDS

  • Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2016 decreased by 18 percent over 2nd Half 2015, from 230 to 188. Overall volume declined three percent on a year-over-year basis.
  • Strategic volume moved downward from 176 in 2nd Half 2015 to 138 in 1st Half 2016. Private equity backed volume remained fairly consistent during this timeframe, from 54 to 50.
  • Total transaction value in 1st Half 2016 fell by 65 percent over 2nd Half 2015, from $11.88 billion to $4.16 billion. Overall value decreased 38 percent on a year-over-year basis.
  • The median revenue multiple increased slightly from 1.9x in 2nd Half 2015 to 2.1x in 1st Half 2016.
  • The segment with the largest increase in volume in 1st Half 2016 over 2nd Half 2015 was K-12 Media and Tech with a 47 percent rise, from 32 to 47 transactions.

M&A Market Overview

Berkery Noyes tracked 942 Education transactions between 2014 and 1st Half 2016, of which 205 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $26.65 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project the values of 737 undisclosed transactions to be $7.47 billion, totaling $34.12 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Disclosed median enterprise value multiples for all segments combined in this report during the last 30 months were 2.0x revenue and 8.6x EBITDA.