Baker & McKenzie Advises Study Group on Its $660 Million Sale to Providence Equity Partners
Deal Announcement
13 July 2010
Sydney, Australia, 13 July 2010 – Baker & McKenzie has advised the shareholders of Study Group Pty Limited (including CHAMP, CHAMP Worldwide and Petersen Investments) on the sale of 100% of their equity in Study Group to Providence Equity Partners for A$660 million. Study Group is a leading global private education provider with students in campuses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to the sale, the company was controlled by Champ Private Equity.
Partners Mark McNamara and Simon De Young led the transaction team at Baker & McKenzie, with banking support from partner Bryan Paisley. Because of the global nature of Study Group's business, lawyers from Baker & McKenzie's Sydney, Melbourne, London, Chicago, Washington D.C. and New York offices were heavily involved in the transaction. Lawyers across a range of specialisations were required, including teams from the Firm's Private Equity, Corporate, Banking & Finance, Employment, Competition and Corporate Real Estate practices.
Speaking about the transaction, Mark McNamara, partner in the Firm's Sydney office and head of the Firm's Global Private Equity practice said, "We advised CHAMP when it acquired Study Group in 2006 and have had an ongoing legal role with the business since that time. We were gratified to be selected as sell-side legal counsel for this significant Australian PE exit in 2010 and delighted to see the institutional and employee shareholders reap a wonderful financial outcome for the sale of the business. It was a pleasure working with the CHAMP team, Arvid Petersen and senior management throughout the exit process and we look forward to continuing our involvement with the Group under its new ownership."
The sale of Study Group was one of a number of transactions closed by Baker & McKenzie's Private Equity Group at the turn of the financial year. They included the sale of Media Monitors to Quadrant Private Equity and providing advice on certain aspects of the sale of Loscam by Affinity Equity Partners to China Merchants Group. Simon De Young, a partner in the Firm's Melbourne office and a member of the Firm's Australian Private Equity practice added, "These transactions do give cause for more optimism in the Australian private equity arena for FY11. We are seeing more private equity activity (on both the buy side and the sell side) than we have for some time, particularly in the mid market."