Spire Capital Partners has sold Rainbow Early Education, a provider of early education services, to Quad-C Management. Spire acquired Rainbow Early Education in 2010 in partnership with Patrick Fenton, Rainbow’s Founder & CEO.
During the six-year term of its ownership Rainbow expanded geographically by building new schools and also acquired other early education schools in contiguous regions. The company opened or acquired 91 schools during this period, more than tripling the school count while growing revenue by over 400%. “Spire Capital has been an exceptional partner providing invaluable insight working alongside our team to further our business development, marketing, and technology initiatives during our rapid growth,” said Mr. Fenton. Today, Rainbow serves over 10,500 students and operates 121 schools across twelve states. The company is headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Troy, MI (www.rainbowccc.com).
Spire 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 is investing out of its third fund and has managed over $700 million in private equity commitments since its founding in 2000. The firm is led by partners Andy Armstrong, Bruce Hernandez, David Schaible and Sean White and is based in New York (www.spirecapital.com).
“Patrick Fenton, management and all of the Rainbow team exhibited exceptional operating skills and built a unique curriculum and company culture to educate young children today,” said Mr. Schaible. “The identification and execution of this buy and build investment theme created significant value for all stakeholders, and the company continues to be well positioned to continue its expansion as a premier provider in the sector.”
The acquisition of Rainbow Early Education is the latest transaction for Quad-C in the education and training sector. In August 2014 the firm acquired Colibri (formerly McKissock) – an online provider of continuing education programs to professionals in the real estate, health care and personal care markets.
“Pat Fenton and his management team have done an excellent job building out the Rainbow platform in recent years, and we’re looking forward to supporting the company’s organic and acquisition-driven growth strategies going forward,” said Tim Billings, a Partner at Quad-C.
Quad-C invests from $35 million to $125 million of equity in companies with enterprise values of $75 million to $400 million. The firm was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Charlottesville (www.quadcmanagement.com).
Robert W. Baird & Company (www.rwbaird.com) was the financial advisor to Spire Capital and Rainbow, while Dentons US (www.dentons.com) served as legal counsel.
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 7-13-16