Private equity firm Graphite Capital has sold Education Personnel, a provider of supply teachers and educational support staff to schools in England and Wales, to its management team in a buy-out backed by ICG.
Graphite originally backed the management buy-out of Teaching Personnel in 2010. The following year the business was merged with Protocol Education to form Education Personnel.
The combination has generated approximately 100 additional jobs at the company since the merger.
Education Personnel’s revenue has grown by approximately 60 per cent over the past four years. The number of branches has risen from 52 to 67 and the number of candidates placed has increased to over 16,000 per annum in more than 7,200 schools.
The transaction builds on Graphite's track record in the business services and education sectors. In the last 18 months, Graphite has sold Alexander Mann Solutions, a provider of talent acquisition and management services, for GBP260 million, and NES Global Talent, the international technical recruitment group, for GBP234 million. Its remaining investments in these sectors include TMP Worldwide, the recruitment marketing agency, and Explore Learning, a provider of after-school tuition.
John Bowman, Education Personnel chief executive, says: “Graphite has worked in partnership with the management team and helped us drive our ambitious growth strategy over the past four years. From the outset they shared our vision to create the market leader through the acquisition of Protocol Education. They understand our business and the recruitment marketplace extremely well.”
Graphite senior partner Mike Tilbury adds: “Education Personnel is a high quality business run by an exceptional management team. The company’s stellar performance has been driven organically and through a transformational acquisition which was extremely well executed. The company provides very important services to schools, has the leading position in its market and is well positioned to continue to take advantage of the substantial growth opportunities available.”
Deloitte Corporate Advisory, led by Byron Griffin, advised Graphite on the deal.
