Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle market private equity investor, has acquired the American Safety Council (ASC), a leading national provider of mandatory training, education, and certification solutions to regulated end markets. ASC distributes 100 per cent of its life-saving content in digital format and focuses on workplace safety, driver safety and vocational certifications. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“ASC has an outstanding management team, led by John Comly, and a uniquely scaled, national platform with nearly two million customers and over four hundred online courses that help people lead safer and more productive lives,” says Rob Edwards, Partner at Ridgemont. “We have followed the business and its impressive growth trajectory for many years and are very pleased to partner with the ASC team to continue to invest in its content and technology and to actively pursue M&A opportunities in adjacent end markets.”
“There has been an ongoing paradigm shift of learning environments gravitating from the classroom to a digital setting, and the current public health crisis has accelerated this movement,” says Charles Anderson, Partner at Ridgemont. “Additionally, the US regulatory landscape has become more stringent in many training and continuing education segments. ASC is extremely well-positioned to provide trusted, high-quality content in a user-friendly online format, and Ridgemont is excited to embark on this next chapter of growth alongside the Company’s management team.”
“Our new partnership with Ridgemont and their team’s strategic and financial support will further propel our business and enable us to advance our capabilities,” says John Comly, CEO of American Safety Council. “We have a purpose-built platform for organic growth and M&A, alongside a winning culture at ASC. Ridgemont shares our vision to build American Safety Council into the leading provider of online training, education and vocational certification in regulated end markets.”
