Spire Capital has acquired Surgent Tax & Accounting Education, a provider of continuing education for accounting, auditing and taxation professionals, in partnership with the company’s management team. This is the first investment made by Spire Capital Partners III, LP.
Surgent Tax & Accounting Education is a provider of professional education and career training services for the accounting, auditing and taxation industries. In 2013, Surgent will serve more than 105,000 professionals in 50 states through its web based and on-site educational products. Surgent was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in the Philadelphia suburb of Devon (www.cpenow.com).
“We see tremendous opportunity with the Surgent business,” said Bruce Hernandez, Partner of Spire Capital. “The company has developed strong relationships with state accounting societies across the country since its founding while successfully innovating and growing new products and delivery methods. For example, Surgent will grow its recently introduced webinar annual subscriptions by greater than 100% in 2013. With strong management led by Jack Surgent and our demonstrated investment expertise in the education industry, we believe we can build on Surgent’s history and reputation to become the leading accounting education technology business serving state accounting societies, public accounting firms and industry accounting professionals.”
Spire Capital Partners invests from $15 million to $40 million in companies with revenues of at least $10 million and EBITDAs of $5 million. Sectors of interest include business services, information services, media, education and communications. Spire Capital Partners is led by partners Andy Armstrong, Bruce Hernandez, David Schaible and Sean White. The firm was founded in 2000 and is based in New York with an additional office in West Conshohocken, PA (www.spirecapital.com).
“I am very excited to continue leading Surgent as a valued partner to our state accounting society associations and to grow our public accounting firm offering which includes enhanced curriculum for various experience levels, comprehensive subject matter breadth and a foundational technology platform for our clients to utilize,” said Jack Surgent, Chief Executive Officer of Surgent. “Our goal has always been to provide the best quality content and education in the industry. Partnering with Spire will provide the strategic focus and resources needed to fuel our growth in the coming years.”
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 12-20-13
