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October 2021

National Education Group

Adviser to National Education Group on their sale of a stake to Synova

£undisclosed

Grant Thornton team

Keely Woodley
Head of Corporate Finance Advisory

Education

Sell side

Corporate finance

We are delighted to have advised National Education Group (NEG) on their sale of a stake to Synova.

NEG delivers remote, expert-led, and engaging training and CPD through its three comprehensive content brands: The National College, National Online Safety, and Essential CPD. Learners access content through the National Hub, NEG's intuitive software platform. This learning management system also supports schools’ wider training function.

Following a competitive pitch process, the shareholders of NEG appointed us to support in obtaining a minority investment in the business, ensuring the right strategic partner to help drive domestic and international expansion.

The shareholders recognised the value in our full-service offering, experience in working with owner-managed businesses as well as our sector expertise.

Our team worked closely with the shareholders throughout the process. We were able to identify the right partner for the business and achieve the desired transaction, within six months from engagement. This was achieved:

Utilising our knowledge of the education and education technology sectors to effectively prepare and position the business’ key attributes and qualities to attract investors
Maximising our network of contacts across the investor community to find the right partner and maximise competitive tension
Managing our full service offering across financial modelling, financial reporting, transaction tax and debt advisory teams to run an efficient process whilst maintaining high quality advice

Testimonial

The Grant Thornton team delivered an outstanding result for NEG and its Shareholders. They ran an extremely efficient process, from initial preparation through to completion. Their knowledge of the sector and their strong investor relationships were key to ensuring NEG was positioned in the right way to the best possible partners and their pro-active approach limited the distractions on the management team. We were delighted with the outcome and would happily recommend the team.

Neil Gamewell Co-Founder and CEO, The National Education Group