Navigating education sector transactions requires deep knowledge of the market and a clear understanding of the challenges that can arise. Our dedicated team, led by five partners, focuses exclusively on supporting education institutions and investors, both in the UK and internationally, with their transactions.
Whether you are acquiring, merging or selling, we provide clear, practical advice designed to give you confidence at every stage. Our work spans:
- Acquisition and disposal of day nurseries
- Independent school mergers (please see the note undertaken in conjunction with the ISC and its member associations)
- Acquisitions and disposals of independent schools
- Academy conversions and free school matters
- FE college mergers and acquisitions of learning businesses by FE colleges
- Transactions in the higher education sector, including those affecting alternative providers
- Specialist education, regulatory, safeguarding due diligence exercises (for both vendor due diligence and due diligence on behalf of buyers/bidders), often as co-counsel
Many of the opportunities we support come through introductions we broker, reflecting the strong relationships we have built across the sector.
Our team has successfully completed a wide range of transactions. This experience means that we have encountered many of the issues which can delay or derail a transaction completely and can tailor our approach accordingly to avoid such complications.
Our expertise has been recognised nationally. We were recognised as Legal Advisor of the Year to Deal-making at the 2023 Education Investor Awards and more recently as Legal Advisers to Education Institutions at the 2024 and 2025 Awards.
We are the most active law firm for education sector transactions in the UK, acting on a significant number of transactions each year. Our deal sheet showcases our recent work highlights.
Our expertise
- The UK education sector continues to attract significant domestic and international investment, widely regarded as the global gold standard. We have seen investment being made in the independent schools, higher education and the training sectors.
- We regularly act for private equity investors in relation to their buy-and-build strategy and on very large projects have worked alongside retained lawyers undertaking education-specific due diligence exercises.
- To enhance the support we provide, we are proud to have joined forces with strategy consultants Cairneagle, a fast-growing, multi-award-winning globally operating business. Together, we support clients to determine strategic direction and offer wider choice, insight and access to a broad range of specialisms.
With VWV, it genuinely did feel as though we had the very strongest of teams on our side, and this served to generate a great deal of comfort and confidence.
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