TPG Capital and Leonard Green Partners have entered into an agreement to acquire Ellucian – a provider of education software and services – from Hellman & Friedman and co-investor JMI Equity.
Ellucian is a provider of software and services that are used by educational institutions for student information systems, finance and human resources, recruiting, retention, and analytics. The company has more than 2,400 customers located in 40 countries and 1,500 institutions subscribe to Ellucian’s cloud services and SaaS offerings. Ellucian also provides support services such as application software implementation, training, education, and management consulting. The company is based in Fairfax, VA (www.ellucian.com).
“TPG has been focused on software designed for specific end-market verticals for a number of years, and we’ve been impressed with the breadth and depth of Ellucian’s products,” said Bryan Taylor, partner at TPG. “Ellucian’s industry leadership, global reach, management depth, and deep vertical focus on enabling higher education institutions to leverage technology to improve student outcomes position the company well for continued success and growth.”
Jeff Ray, chief executive officer of Ellucian, will continue to lead Ellucian under TPG and Leonard Green ownership. “We are delighted to welcome TPG and Leonard Green to the Ellucian team,” said Mr. Ray. “TPG and Leonard Green will be tremendous partners as we work to accelerate our cloud offering, enhance our student information systems, and broaden our product portfolio.”
TPG was founded in 1992 and makes investments throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Sectors of interest include industrials, retail, consumer, financial services, travel and entertainment, technology, media and communications, and healthcare. The firm has offices in San Francisco, Fort Worth, Austin, Dallas, Houston, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo (www.tpg.com).
Leonard Green & Partners invests in middle-market companies with market-leading franchises and defensible competitive positions, attractive growth prospects and proven management teams. Sectors of interest include retail, distribution, healthcare, aerospace/defense, and consumer/business services. The firm was founded in 1989 and manages approximately $15 billion of equity capital. Leonard Green & Partners is headquartered in Los Angeles (www.leonardgreen.com).
Morgan Stanley & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, BMO Capital Markets, and Barclays served as financial advisors to TPG and Leonard Green. Credit Suisse and Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial advisors to Ellucian.
Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel for TPG and Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel for Leonard Green. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett served as legal counsel for Ellucian and Hellman & Friedman.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-17-15
