NEWS
Early years
US: Cadence Education hits the right note for Apax Apax Partners has agreed to acquire Cadence Education, a provider of early childhood education in North America, from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in a deal expected to complete next month. Cadence Education operates 225 private pre-schools through a network of more than 40 brands, including its flagship Cadence Academy brand, and caters to
children aged six weeks to 12 years. Cadence Education president and chief executive Dave Goldberg said: “We are very excited about our new partnership with Apax, which will help drive our continued growth and bring our mission of providing an exceptional education in a fun and nurturing environment to even more children.”
Nick Hartman, partner at Apax Partners, added: “We look forward to working with Dave and the Cadence Education team to continue to execute the strategy that has established the company as a leader in the early childhood education space. Cadence Education’s focus on children and parents delivers industry-leading customer satisfaction which, in combination with a highly-skilled
team, positions the company for continued growth.” Debevoise & Plimpton was legal advisor, and William Blair and Lazard Middle Market were financial advisors to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was legal advisor to Apax Partners. Cadence Education is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.
K12
First British independent school sets up in Morocco Surrey-based Reigate Grammar School is launching an offshoot in Casablanca, making it the first UK independent school to set up shop in Morocco. Reigate Grammar School’s first partner school in Casablanca is already open and will expand to accommodate 1,300 pupils, while two schools are due to open in Tangiers and Rabat. The independent school already has partnerships with other schools around the world, including a multi-school deal in China. The Moroccan schools will offer British curriculums, with IGCSEs
and A-levels, from kindergarten level through to sixth form. Headteacher Shaun Fenton said the relationship will help the school’s pupils in the UK to form “bridges of understanding” with other cultures.
As reported by this publication last year, Morocco is opening its doors to British schools as the country aspires to make English a more important aspect of its schooling, which has traditionally been more French-leaning.
An agreement between the two countries’ governments was struck last year, streamlining the process of setting up a school in Morocco and opening up the possibility of a promising new market for British education institutions.
UK: Chinese investors snap up Cambridgeshire grammar school Access (UK) Education has bought Wisbech Grammar School in Cambridgeshire, the Wisbech Standard has reported. Brighton-based Access is run by Chinese nationals who have been based in the UK for the past 15 to 20 years. The company states on its website that it is an education development company that works in partnership with a number of education institutions to provide international student recruiting and guardianship services and marketing
EducationInvestor Global • March 2020
development opportunities. Wisbech Grammar’s headmaster Chris Staley said that the school – but not the buildings – have been taken on by Access Education. Access aims to make Wisbech Grammar its flagship UK entity. Staley added that the acquisition will provide the seeds for the expansion of the school’s brand into China. Under the terms of the agreement, a new charity under a board of trustees will oversee the freehold
of the school and its associated buildings and land. Access has set up a limited company to run the school with the agreement that any profit or surplus is invested back and will be used to increase bursaries and upgrade the school’s facilities. Staley said: “It has been a rollercoaster ride, but we are phenomenally excited for the future and it will be good for Wisbech,” adding that the school has been under financial pressure traceable
to Tony Blair’s Labour government decision to axe the assisted places scheme in 1997. After 1997, Stanley added, the number of pupils at the school dropped from a peak of 750 to a low point of 500. Today it caters for 580, including 20 Chinese students who have become the school’s first boarders. Access plans to increase that number to a maximum of 50 or 60 and the school is looking to build or rent additional accommodation nearby.
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