THI Investments, a privately-owned pan European private equity investor in high-growth businesses undergoing a transformation, is delighted to announce it has acquired a majority stake in Empowering Learning Group (“ELG”)—the UK’s leading provider of specialist behaviour-management training and teacher recruitment — investing alongside ELG’s management team. Existing shareholder Graphite Capital will reinvest a portion of its proceeds, retaining a minority position.
Founded in 2017 and expanded through the acquisition of Team Teach, ELG today trains more than 110,000 delegates each year and supports over 10,000 schools with training and supplying teachers and teaching assistants, helping educators tackle classroom-behaviour and staffing challenges head-on.
Mohammed Azam, CEO of Empowering Learning, said:
“I am proud of the evidenced impact ELG’s services are having with key stakeholders, improving the Education & Health and Social Care sectors, not just at home but in many countries around the world.
THI Investments will bring significant sector and internationalisation expertise, with shared values and vision for the future. Exciting times indeed, with bringing our services to support more and more schools in the UK market and internationally, supported by complementary M&A, positioning ELG as the global leader for critical education services.”
Tarquin Wethered, THI Investments commented:
“Empowering Learning sits squarely within THI’s education thesis: a best-in-class & outcomes focussed education offering, scaled commercial potential, and a leading management team. We look forward to working closely with the team to deepen their UK footprint, broaden the product set and materially scale its leading quality internationally.”
Deal highlights
Transaction structure
• THI acquires a majority stake; management rolls meaningful equity; Graphite Capital retains a minority re-investment
Growth agenda
• Continually enhance the breadth, quality and outcomes of the proposition; continue to work with more schools and teachers in the UK and internationally; scale the digital platform to provide a leading and always accessible technology-driven service
Andrew Lawley, Partner, and Tarquin Wethered, Director, led the deal for THI, with support from Nina Koenig, William Wells, and Frida Engstroem.
THI was advised by O’Melveny & Myers (law), Investec (corporate finance), DC Advisory (debt), Strategy& (commercial), and Deloitte (financial and tax).
Notes:
THI Investments
THI Investments is a privately owned private equity investor with total assets under management of more than €2bn and offices in Stuttgart, London, and Munich. THI provides flexible capital, operational understanding, and support to successful mid-market businesses by backing their management teams. Education and Business Services are among the core areas of focus for THI. THI invests equity amounts from £20-100m in businesses in Education and Training, Business Services, Smart Industrials, Sustainability and Healthcare in Western Europe. Within Education, THI has also invested in Oxford International, a leading international private education and student pathways provider, Corndel, which is among the UK’s fastest growing apprenticeships providers, Impact Food Group, a market-leading school catering company focused on providing healthier food to children and promoting a positive food culture among pupils, and Learnship, an online provider of B2B online language learning and intercultural training products based in the US and Germany.
Empowering Learning
Empowering Learning Group (“ELG”) is a provider of mission-critical services to schools. CEO Mohammed Azam founded ELG with the aim of building a diversified and tech-enabled education service provider. From the outset, ELG’s mission was to solve challenges facing schools, in particular behavioural issues in classrooms, which have intensified in recent years, driven by post-pandemic disruption, social media, and growing mental health concerns among pupils. This has reduced teaching time and increased staff attrition, which ELG is addressing with high-quality behavioural management training courses and recruitment support, significantly improving the learning environment and the welfare and academic outcomes of children.
THI Investments, a privately-owned pan European private equity investor in high-growth businesses undergoing a transformation, is delighted to announce it has acquired a majority stake in Empowering Learning Group (“ELG”)—the UK’s leading provider of specialist behaviour-management training and teacher recruitment — investing alongside ELG’s management team. Existing shareholder Graphite Capital will reinvest a portion of its proceeds, retaining a minority position.
Founded in 2017 and expanded through the acquisition of Team Teach, ELG today trains more than 110,000 delegates each year and supports over 10,000 schools with training and supplying teachers and teaching assistants, helping educators tackle classroom-behaviour and staffing challenges head-on.
Mohammed Azam, CEO of Empowering Learning, said:
“I am proud of the evidenced impact ELG’s services are having with key stakeholders, improving the Education & Health and Social Care sectors, not just at home but in many countries around the world. THI Investments will bring significant sector and internationalisation expertise, with shared values and vision for the future. Exciting times indeed, with bringing our services to support more and more schools in the UK market and internationally, supported by complementary M&A, positioning ELG as the global leader for critical education services.”
Tarquin Wethered, THI Investments commented:
“Empowering Learning sits squarely within THI’s education thesis: a best-in-class & outcomes focussed education offering, scaled commercial potential, and a leading management team. We look forward to working closely with the team to deepen their UK footprint, broaden the product set and materially scale its leading quality internationally.”
Deal highlights
Transaction structure
• THI acquires a majority stake; management rolls meaningful equity; Graphite Capital retains a minority re-investment
Growth agenda
• Continually enhance the breadth, quality and outcomes of the proposition; continue to work with more schools and teachers in the UK and internationally; scale the digital platform to provide a leading and always accessible technology-driven service
Andrew Lawley, Partner, and Tarquin Wethered, Director, led the deal for THI, with support from Nina Koenig, William Wells, and Frida Engstroem.
THI was advised by O’Melveny & Myers (law), Investec (corporate finance), DC Advisory (debt), Strategy& (commercial), and Deloitte (financial and tax).
Notes:
THI Investments
THI Investments is a privately owned private equity investor with total assets under management of more than €2bn and offices in Stuttgart, London, and Munich. THI provides flexible capital, operational understanding, and support to successful mid-market businesses by backing their management teams. Education and Business Services are among the core areas of focus for THI. THI invests equity amounts from £20-100m in businesses in Education and Training, Business Services, Smart Industrials, Sustainability and Healthcare in Western Europe. Within Education, THI has also invested in Oxford International, a leading international private education and student pathways provider, Corndel, which is among the UK’s fastest growing apprenticeships providers, Impact Food Group, a market-leading school catering company focused on providing healthier food to children and promoting a positive food culture among pupils, and Learnship, an online provider of B2B online language learning and intercultural training products based in the US and Germany.
Empowering Learning
Empowering Learning Group (“ELG”) is a provider of mission-critical services to schools. CEO Mohammed Azam founded ELG with the aim of building a diversified and tech-enabled education service provider. From the outset, ELG’s mission was to solve challenges facing schools, in particular behavioural issues in classrooms, which have intensified in recent years, driven by post-pandemic disruption, social media, and growing mental health concerns among pupils. This has reduced teaching time and increased staff attrition, which ELG is addressing with high-quality behavioural management training courses and recruitment support, significantly improving the learning environment and the welfare and academic outcomes of children.
