The Riverside Company has completed its 300th acquisition with a deal to purchase Learning Seat, an Australian provider of online learning and compliance courses.
It is the first investment of the firm’s affiliated Riverside Asia-Pacific Fund II.
“Few private equity firms have the privilege to invest in so many great little companies,” says Stewart Kohl (pictured), co-chief executive of Riverside. “While the large quantity is meaningful in and of itself, what most excites me is the advantage it offers to Riverside’s investors and partners. Like most things in life, the more you do it, the better you become, and the breadth and depth of our experience, the resulting industry expertise and our ability to recognise patterns all differentiate Riverside.”
Breaking down the 300 number, it is nearly evenly split between platforms (153) and add-on acquisitions (147). Riverside has exited 79 of its platforms and their 90 related add-ons over the course of its history.
As a generalist investor, Riverside has acquired companies in industries as varied as Turkish pet food makers and Japanese parking lot operators. Riverside’s specialisations account well over half of all of its deals, and include:
• Healthcare
• Education and training
• Software and information rechnology
• Franchisors
