Driving growth through mergers and acquisitions for education businesses
Moore Kingston Smith is a leading firm advising the education sector, with a full-service approach to sales, mergers and acquisitions, and due diligence. Our education sector group works with over 200 organisations and our corporate finance team’s focus is on:
- Sell-side advice for independent schools
- Charitable school mergers
- Financial and tax due diligence on both charitable and proprietorial independent schools
- Strategic advice and turnaround planning for independent schools
- Sell-side advice for edtech and e-learning providers.
Specialist
education team
£300m+
total deal value advised on
28
completed transactions
Moore Kingston Smith is very involved with the main education sector groups and regulators for independent schools. These include the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association, HMC, Catholic Independent Schools’ Conference, Girls’ Schools Association and AGBIS.
We keep our clients up to date through our specialist hubs, newsletter (Education Matters), expert insights and webinars as well as speaking at external events. Our annual conference for schools with expert speakers on current topics has become a firm fixture in the annual schools calendar.
Some of our experience
Education, Technology and IT services
Education, Technology and IT services
Sale of First4Safety to Amtivo Group
Deal advisory
Education
Sale of Yateley Manor to Inspired Learning Group
Deal advisory
Education
Sale of The Village School to Chatsworth Schools
Deal advisory
Education
Acquisition of Claires Court by Licensed Trade Charity
M&A tax | Transaction services
Education
Merger of St Albans Education Group with St George's Ascot
M&A tax | Transaction services
Education
Merger of Hoe Bridge School with Greenfield School
M&A tax | Transaction services
Education
Merger of Sherborne Girls school with Sherborne Schools Group
Transaction servicesOur approach
As each project and organisation is unique, we tailor our approach to optimise results, whether you’re selling or acquiring a charitable or commercial school or an e-learning or edtech business.
Our team excels in connecting you with the right buyers or merger partners, getting you the best price, navigating deal complexities and preparing your business for a transaction.
We’re skilled at identifying key issues, proactively mitigating them when acting for sellers or recommending pragmatic solutions to protect acquirers when acting on the buy-side.
Sell-side advisory
We specialise in working with both founder-led education businesses and both charitable and proprietorial independent schools to realise the value of your business or find a merger partner.
This involves:
- Marketing the business to potential acquirers/merger partners
- Negotiating the transaction
- Managing the sale process from start to finish
- Working alongside our M&A tax and accounting colleagues throughout.
Buy-side advisory and transaction services
We support acquirers, mergers, private equity houses and lenders at every stage of the transaction, conducting due diligence with a scope tailored to your objectives and providing insightful, commercial advice throughout.
We specialise in advising companies pursuing a buy-and-build strategy, working with you to formulate your strategic criteria to achieve acquisition targets.
This includes:
- Financial due diligence on targets
- Tax due diligence on targets
- Raising funding including debt
- Identifying and approaching potential acquisition targets.
A corporate finance specialist with over eleven years’ experience in mergers and acquisitions, Dan Leaman acts as lead adviser to a range of clients consulting on strategy, sales of businesses and the fundraising of debt and equity. His specialisms include providing strategic advice to owners preparing for sale, as well as working alongside businesses to… Read more
