M&A Deal Summary

Catapult Learning Acquires SESI

On July 21, 2015, Catapult Learning acquired education company SESI from Prairie Capital, Chicago Growth Partners and Fifth Street Capital

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Catapult Learning’s 3rd transaction in the Education sector.
  • This is Catapult Learning’s 3rd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Catapult Learning’s 1st transaction in Pennsylvania.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2015-07-21
Target SESI
Sector Education
Buyer(s) Catapult Learning
Sellers(s) Prairie Capital
Chicago Growth Partners
Fifth Street Capital
Deal Type Merger
Advisor(s) BMO Capital Markets (Financial)

Target

SESI

Yardley, Pennsylvania, United States
SESI is a provider of non-public, for-profit educational services for children with learning and behavioral difficulties in the K-12 market.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Catapult Learning

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Category Company
Founded 1976
Sector Education
DESCRIPTION

Catapult Learning is an outsourced K-12 educational services platform in the U.S. The Company serves more than 300,000 K-12 students across 300+ districts, including 16 of the 20 largest districts, in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Catapult Learning was founded in 1976 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 3 of 5
Sector (Education) 3 of 5
Type (Merger) 1 of 1
State (Pennsylvania) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 3 of 5
Year (2015) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-01-07 Newton Alliance

Clayton, Montana, United States

Newton Alliance LLC provides customer and product portfolio including: - Alliance™: a comprehensive, school improvement and professional development program. eValuate™: an online formative assessment and reporting engine, built with new, interactive Common Core assessment items, Learning Force™: a proven math and reading intervention services program for grades 3-8, Summer Journey™: a summer school program focused on project-based learning.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2016-04-01 Aurora Day School

Peoria, Arizona, United States

Aurora Day School is a provider of education program that serves learning-disabled students.

Buy -

Seller(S) 3

SELLER

Prairie Capital

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1997
PE ASSETS 525M USD
Size Middle-Market
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Prairie Capital is a private investment firm that provides equity and/or mezzanine capital to support buyouts and recapitalization of lower middle-market companies generating sales of $20 - $100 million with an EBITDA of $4 - $12 million. Areas of interest include niche manufacturers, business services, consumer products, marketing services, specialty chemical, and food businesses. The firm invests in the range of $25 - $45 million per transaction. Prairie Capital was formed in 1997 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 33 of 55
Sector (Education) 1 of 2
Type (Merger) 2 of 2
State (Pennsylvania) 2 of 2
Country (United States) 32 of 54
Year (2015) 2 of 4
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-06-12 Premier Dealer Services

Dublin, Ohio, United States

Premier Dealer Services is an integrated third-party administrator of vehicle service contracts (VSCs) and related products. Premier designs, underwrites, markets, sells, and administers VSCs that are insured by independent insurance companies, captive reinsurance providers, and dealer owned reinsurance entities. Premier Dealer Services is based in Dublin, Ohio.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-09-17 Messenger

Auburn, Indiana, United States

Messenger LLC is a manufacturer and distributor of specialty stationery and related products to the death care industry. Messenger products are sold to over 8,000 funeral home directors who, in turn, retail these products to families for use at memorial services. Messenger was established in 1913 and is based in Auburn, Indiana.

Sell -
SELLER

Chicago Growth Partners

Chicago, Illinois, United States
Category Growth Capital Firm
Founded 2004
PE ASSETS 1.2B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Chicago Growth Partners LLC (CGP) was a Chicago-based based private equity firm that provided expansion and buyout capital to middle-market companies generating sales of $15 to $150 million. CGP sought to invest in business services, consumer services, healthcare products/services, and industrial companies. CGP was formed in 2004 as a spin-off of William Blair Capital Partners, the investment group of investment bank William Blair. In 2014, the Firm ceased operations.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 24 of 34
Sector (Education) 3 of 4
Type (Merger) 1 of 1
State (Pennsylvania) 2 of 2
Country (United States) 22 of 31
Year (2015) 1 of 2
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-10-24 ScribeAmerica

Aventura, Florida, United States

ScribeAmerica LLC is a provider of managed medical scribe services to the healthcare industry. ScribeAmerica offers turnkey professional medical scribe programs within which it recruits, qualifies, hires, trains, and manages scribes for a wide variety of medical settings.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-12-14 World 50

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

World 50 is an exclusive, invite-only peer-to-peer network and knowledge exchange platform serving senior executives at leading corporations. World 50 was founded in 2004 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sell -
SELLER

Fifth Street Capital

Category Lender
Founded 1998
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Fifth Street Capital is a public investment firm focused on providing mezzanine financing to support expansions, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and management buyouts of middle-market US based companies. Fifth Street looks to invest between $5 and $50 million per transaction. Sectors of interest include consumer products, healthcare services, manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, food services, business services, restaurants, speciality retail, logistics, and value added distribution. Fifth Street Capital is based in White Plains, New York.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 30 of 59
Sector (Education) 1 of 3
Type (Merger) 2 of 4
State (Pennsylvania) 3 of 5
Country (United States) 29 of 58
Year (2015) 7 of 9
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-06-22 Healthcare Finance Group

New York City, New York, United States

Healthcare Finance Group is a specialty finance company that provides revolving credit facilities and term loans to healthcare providers. HFG targets middle-market healthcare service providers, generally requiring credit facilities of $5.0 million to $50.0 million.

Sell -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-10-08 CoAdvantage

Tampa, Florida, United States

CoAdvantage engages in human resource solutions, providing Professional Employer Organization (PEO) services to small and medium-sized businesses nationwide. CoAdvantage specializes in and excels at handling human resources. CoAdvantage are HR experts who work as your outsourcing partner to administer payroll, benefits, workers’ compensation, and core HR functions. CoAdvantage was founded in 1997 and is based in Tampa, Florida.

Sell -
Mergr

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