Q3 2018 Education Industry Trends

The most active market segment in Q3 2018 was K-12 Media and Tech with 28 transactions, which slightly surpassed the 25 deals in the Professional Training Services segment.
The combined Professional Training Technology and Services segments, with 36 deals, accounted for one-third of aggregate volume in Q3 2018.
Strategic acquirers represented 67 percent of the total volume and 72 percent of total value year-to-date.

Total transaction volume in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2018 improved by ten percent over the 1st 3 Quarters of 2017, from 298 to 328.
After more than tripling in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2017, total transaction value fell 34 percent in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2018, from $13.1 billion to $8.7 billion.

The median revenue multiple on a year-over-year basis declined from 2.3x to 1.8x.
The median EBITDA multiple on a year-over-year basis shifted from 11.0x to 10.5x.

The top ten deals by value have seen three new additions since our half year report, two of which were completed by strategic acquirers: Intertek Group’s acquisition of Alchemy Systems, a provider of food and workplace safety training for production workers, for $480 million; and GrubHub’s announced acquisition of Tapingo, a platform for campus food ordering, for $150 million.
These three transactions, with an aggregate value of $770 million, represented nine percent of transaction value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2018 and 29 percent of Q3 2018 transaction value.

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