Mergers and acquisitions - looking back and into the year ahead
With a year of strategic challenges and opportunities ahead, we thought it might provide interesting insight to summarise merger and acquisition activity from the 2023/24 Academic Year and the trends emerging for the year ahead.
Looking back
The 2023/24 Academic Year was extremely busy for the education transactions team at VWV and across the whole sector. In total, we advised on 47 independent schools transactions, a selection of which are set out below:
| Client | Project | Sell-side/Buy-side/Merger |
| Abbott's Hill School | Merger with Mill Hill School | Merger |
| Ardingly College | Merger with Great Walstead | Merger |
| Beeston Hall School | Merger with Prep School Trust | Merger |
| Blackheath Prep | Merger with Eltham College | Merger |
| Clifton College | Merger with Tockington Manor School | Merger |
| Derby Grammar School | Sale to Inspired Learning Group | Sell-side |
| Education in Motion | Acquisition of Sherfield School from GEMS | Buy-side |
| Forfar Education | Acquisition of St Helen's College | Buy-side |
| Francis Holland Schools Trust | Acquisition of the Hampshire School from GEMS | Buy-side |
| Kingshott School | Merger with Mill Hill School | Merger |
| Manor House School | Merger with Effingham Schools Trust | Merger |
Many of these transactions were charity to charity mergers which continue to represent the largest proportion of the transactions we undertake. However, there was also a significant number of transactions involving commercial acquisitions or sales, in some cases where one party was a charity and the other a commercial operator. This is an interesting evolution illustrating the continued trend of interaction across the different elements of the sector.
Looking ahead
The 2024/25 Academic Year will be strategically critical for all independent schools as the sector responds to the Government's changes to VAT and Business Rates.
For some, there will likely be a continuing trend towards safety in numbers and 'families' of schools - that mainly sees senior schools using strategic acquisitions to secure prep schools. We are also already seeing an increase in strategic diversification and exploration of commercial opportunities to strengthen balance sheets. Our colleagues at Cairneagle are increasingly advising school governors on strategic options, where boards are looking for evidence-based strategic consultancy to help them make informed decisions on growth and improvement within their schools.
We are also seeing an increase in acquisitions, and proposed acquisitions, of early years settings and a renewed interest in international strategic projects as schools seek to diversify and look for opportunities to reduce fee income dependency.
Continuing on from previous years, we do expect to advise on a number of transactions where charitable schools seek investment from commercial operators, either from a position of difficulty or as a strategically focused opportunity.