US education giant will be purchased by group of investors
BPP Law School owner Apollo Education Group will be sold for £760 million, it has emerged.
The US for-profit education provider has been a public company on the New York Stock Exchange since 1994. Alongside BPP, Apollo Education also owns the University of Phoenix.
However, thanks to three private equity firms pooling together to stump up the cash, Apollo Education will now be privately owned. The deal is due to be finalised in August this year.
Apollo Education purchased BPP Holdings in 2009 for over £303 million.
However, it wasn’t until 2013 that BPP was granted university status. At the time it was only the second for-profit institution to be granted the status, following on from The College of Law becoming the University of Law in 2012.
According to Lawyer2B (registration required), lawyers at elite US corporate outfit Sullivan & Cromwell advised Apollo Education on the deal, while the buyers punted for New York outfit Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Peter Crisp, dean of BPP University Law School, told Legal Cheek:
Yesterday, BPP Professional Education Group’s ultimate parent company Apollo Education Group announced an intention to sell to a consortium of private equity firms. The sales process is expected to complete by the end of August 2016. BPP has a long established management team with many having served for two decades. We all welcome the opportunity to work with the eventual new owners in delivering our exciting vision to be the global leading professional education provider.