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HIG Capital’s education platform invests in the International School of Europe

HIG Europe, the European arm of global private equity firm HIG Capital, has completed an investment in the International School of Europe (ISE), a group of K-12 international day schools in Italy.

ISE was founded in 1957 by the Formiga family and has schools in Milan, Modena, Monza and Siena. The group offers the International Baccalaureate (“IB”) curriculum to approximately 1,500 pupils representing over 60 nationalities.
 
HIG is partnering with Paolo and Franco Formiga who will retain an ownership stake in the group and continue to lead the Italian schools. The acquisition of ISE marks HIG’s first investment in Italy and second investment in premium international K-12 education following the acquisition of the St Gilgen International School (“StGIS”) last year. StGIS is a prestigious, international day and boarding school located in the lakeside town of St Gilgen, near Salzburg, Austria. StGIS and ISE will form the cornerstone of the newly-branded International Schools of Europe Group, an education platform that will continue to invest in premium international schools around the world.
 
ISE is the largest group of international schools in Italy and has a long-established reputation for world-class teaching and academics. The International School of Milan (“ISM”), located in a newly built state-of-the art campus, is the largest and oldest school in the group. ISM has an excellent academic track record and its alumni attend many of the world’s leading universities. HIG will support the continued growth of ISE, including further investments by ISE in new facilities and the planned expansion of the Modena, Monza and Siena schools. In addition, ISE will launch a bilingual Kindergarten school in the centre of Milan for children aged 2-6 in 2015. Further, the group plans to open a day and boarding school in partnership with the Juventus Football Club in Turin.
 
Dr Paolo Formiga, CEO of ISE and Chairman of the newly formed International Schools of Europe Group, says: “Partnering with HIG is an exciting milestone for ISE which will enable us to further expand our reach in Italy and form part of a growing group of premium international schools around the world. This will enhance the opportunities available to our students, parents and teachers and enrich our international learning community”.
 
Dr Matthias Allgaier, Managing Director of HIG Europe, added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Dr. Formiga and his team, who have built an impressive group of schools in Italy, and we look forward to supporting their next stage of growth. The combination of ISE’s Italian schools and StGIS creates a world-class K-12 education platform which we will continue to expand through organic growth and selected acquisitions”.
 
Raffaele Legnani, Managing Director of HIG Europe heading up HIG Europe’s activities in Italy, adds: “We are delighted to be entering into this partnership and announcing our first transaction in Italy. Our focus is on backing businesses with first class management teams, strong underlying fundamentals and attractive growth potential. ISE offers all these characteristics and we look forward to completing a number of similar transactions in Italy over the coming years”.

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