Deal with majority owner Partners Group underscores private equity’s rapid pivot to global K‑12 education platforms

CVC has agreed to acquire a significant minority stake—about 20 percent—in International Schools Partnership (ISP), the London-headquartered operator of private K‑12 schools, in a deal that values the company at approximately €7 billion. The investment, announced on October 3, brings the Amsterdam‑listed buyout group alongside Switzerland’s Partners Group, which founded ISP in 2013 and remains the majority owner. The transaction more than triples ISP’s valuation from a €1.9 billion deal struck in 2021, when Canadian pension plan OMERS came in as a minority investor, and caps a busy year for private equity’s push into fee‑based education assets.

Partners Group and ISP have spent the past decade assembling one of the largest international school networks in the world, pursuing a buy‑and‑build formula that targets academically established schools in cities with rising demand for private education. Today the company educates over 110,000 students across 111 schools in 25 countries, from the Middle East and Europe to Latin America and Asia. The new partnership with CVC is intended to fuel the next phase of that strategy, with fresh capital for campus expansions, technology upgrades, teacher recruitment and training, and additional acquisitions where regulators and demographics are supportive.

For CVC, the move deepens exposure to a sector that has proved resilient through economic cycles. Education platforms typically enjoy predictable, subscription‑like revenues from tuition, with enrollment that can lag macro slowdowns and a margin structure that improves as schools are integrated onto common curricula, systems, and procurement. Those characteristics have made K‑12 assets a favored hunting ground for buyout firms and long‑dated funds seeking steady compounding rather than quick flips. CVC is investing from its Strategic Opportunities strategy, which is designed to hold assets over longer time horizons and support multi‑year expansion plans.

The valuation—about €7 billion enterprise value on current numbers—reflects both the scale ISP has reached and investors’ expectations for continued organic enrollment growth in emerging hubs. It also underlines how far the market has moved in a short period. When OMERS bought its 25 percent stake four years ago, the company counted several dozen fewer schools and operated in fewer countries; since then, ISP has accelerated its pace of bolt‑on acquisitions and greenfield developments, while adding centralized services that aim to raise academic outcomes and operational efficiency across the network.

The deal comes amid a broader re‑rating of education assets globally. This year alone, investors have inked a string of billion‑dollar transactions spanning K‑12 operators, education infrastructure, and higher‑education platforms. Large private school groups have drawn sustained interest from infrastructure‑style pools of capital as well as traditional buyout funds, with sponsors pointing to secular demand drivers such as urbanization, expatriate mobility, and an expanding middle class in the Gulf, Southeast Asia, and parts of Latin America. In mature markets where policy winds are less favorable, managers have emphasized selective capital deployment and operational upgrades rather than headline expansion.

ISP’s footprint places it squarely in those growth corridors. In the Gulf, where population growth, parental preference for international curricula, and government ambitions to attract global talent have supported private education, the company has been adding capacity and expanding program offerings. In Latin America, acquisitions have provided entry into large, fragmented markets where brand, safety, and bilingual instruction can justify premium fees. Across Europe, the group is calibrating investments to local conditions, as some countries reassess the tax treatment of private schools while others encourage choice and competition among providers.

The industrial logic behind the platform model remains consistent: bring together reputable schools, preserve their identities and community ties, standardize back‑office systems and quality assurance, and invest in pedagogy and facilities that would be harder to fund on a standalone basis. Executives point to centralized teacher development, shared curricula frameworks, common digital learning tools, and cross‑school benchmarking as levers that can lift both academic outcomes and operating margins. For parents and students, the selling point is continuity and breadth: a promise of consistent quality and co‑curricular choice, whether the school is in Madrid, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, or Mexico City.

Still, the model is not without challenges. Regulators in many jurisdictions keep a close watch on foreign ownership, tuition inflation, and admissions practices. Political debate over the role of private providers in compulsory education has sharpened in parts of Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, where policy changes have increased the tax burden on independent schools. While the UK represents only part of ISP’s portfolio, operators have had to adjust pricing and scholarship policies to protect enrollment. In emerging markets, currency volatility and wage inflation can also compress margins if not hedged or offset by scale benefits.

CVC and Partners Group say the partnership will focus on disciplined expansion rather than sheer deal volume. That likely means deepening presence in existing cities—where brand recognition and feeder patterns are already established—alongside a selective pipeline of new geographies. Capital expenditure is expected to prioritize classroom and laboratory space, sports and arts facilities, and the digital backbone that underpins curriculum delivery and school‑to‑home communication. The groups are also expected to back initiatives in special education needs provision and vocational pathways aligned to local labor markets, areas where parental demand is rising and public provision is stretched.

From a financing perspective, the transaction showcases an ongoing trend: pairing majority owners with long‑term minority partners who bring patient capital and sector expertise. Rather than full exits, founding sponsors are tapping secondary sales to recycle capital while retaining control and strategic direction. For limited partners, the structure can smooth distributions without forcing a sale into choppy markets. For the operating company, it reduces disruption and helps sustain a multi‑year investment program.

Competitive dynamics are also evolving. Large peers in the premium K‑12 segment have seen ownership change hands in recent years as investors compete for platforms with scale, brand equity, and demonstrable academic outcomes. The presence of multiple well‑capitalized buyers has pushed valuations higher, rewarding groups that can show robust enrollment pipelines, balanced geographic exposure, and a track record of integrating acquisitions without diluting educational quality. ISP’s management and board will now have to deploy the new capital with precision to justify the price implied by the deal and to sustain momentum through the next enrollment cycles.

For families, the immediate impact is unlikely to be dramatic: school leadership teams and teaching staff typically remain in place after ownership changes, and academic calendars proceed as planned. Over time, however, parents may notice upgraded facilities, expanded extracurricular options, and more visible use of data in tracking student progress. On the staff side, teachers may see expanded professional development offerings and cross‑network collaboration, with opportunities to move between schools and regions within the group.

The partnership arrives as education providers grapple with the longer‑term lessons of the pandemic era. Blended learning models, mental‑health support, and learning‑loss remediation are now baseline expectations. Investment in secure, robust digital platforms—both for classroom delivery and parent‑teacher communication—remains a priority. Operators are also devoting more resources to safeguarding, ESG reporting, and community engagement, all areas of growing scrutiny for institutional investors.

For CVC and Partners Group, success will be measured in enrollment growth, student outcomes, parent satisfaction, and returns on invested capital. If the pair can deliver on the “quality at scale” promise, the deal could become a case study for how private markets partner with school leaders to expand access to internationally benchmarked education. If they cannot, the premium paid will look rich in hindsight. Either way, the transaction confirms that global K‑12 education sits firmly in private equity’s mainstream—and that the battle for the classroom is increasingly being fought on a global stage.