M&A Deal Summary

Vista Equity Partners and Onex Partners Acquire PowerSchool

On June 17, 2015, private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Onex Partners acquired education company PowerSchool from Pearson Education for 350M USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 1st and Onex Partners’ 1st transaction in the Education sector.
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 28th and Onex Partners’ 26th largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 49th and Onex Partners’ 28th transaction in the United States.
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 5th and Onex Partners’ 5th transaction in California.
Investment Fate
  • PowerSchool went public in 2021.
  • PowerSchool was sold to a financial buyer in 2024 for 5.6B USD.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2015-06-17
Target PowerSchool
Sector Education
Buyer(s) Vista Equity Partners
Onex Partners
Sellers(s) Pearson Education
Deal Type Divestiture
Deal Value 350M USD

Target

PowerSchool

Folsom, California, United States
PowerSchool is a provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments, and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool was founded in 1997 and is based in Folsom, California.

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Buyer(S) 2

Buyer

Vista Equity Partners

Austin, Texas, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 2000
PE ASSETS 100.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Focused
DESCRIPTION
Entrance to Frost Bank Tower, Vista Equity's main office in Austin, Texas.
Entrance to Frost Bank Tower, Vista Equity's main office in Austin, Texas.

Vista Equity Partners is a mega-sized asset management firm focused on private equity, public equity, credit, and other strategies. The Firm's private equity group looks to invest in and acquire software and technology enabled services companies. Specific areas of interest include software, software-as-a-service (SaaS), technology-enabled business services, and technology-enabled information services. Vista can commit up to $700 million per transaction and will consider a variety transaction situations, including management/leveraged buyouts, growth or acquisition financings, recapitalizations or restructurings, spinouts, and take privates. Vista Equity Partners was formed in 2000 and is based in Austin, Texas.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 55 of 149
Sector (Education) 1 of 3
Type (Divestiture) 9 of 12
State (California) 5 of 17
Country (United States) 49 of 137
Year (2015) 6 of 10
Size (of disclosed) 28 of 33
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-06-17 EagleView Technologies

Bellevue, Washington, United States

EagleView Technologies is a provider of high-resolution aerial imagery, property data analytics, and structural measurements for government agencies, insurance carriers, roofing contractors, and energy utilities. Using patented image capture techniques, 3D aerial measurement software, and machine learning processes, EagleView Technologies helps customers answer questions related to millions of properties throughout the world. EagleView Technologies was founded in 2008 and is based in Bellevue, washington.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-06-24 MRI Software

Solon, Ohio, United States

MRI Software is a provider of real estate software applications and hosted solutions. MRI’s comprehensive and flexible technology platform coupled with an open and connected ecosystem meets the unique needs of real estate businesses from property-level management and accounting to investment modeling and analytics for the global commercial and residential markets. MRI develops lasting client relationships based on nearly five decades of expertise and insight. MRI Software was established in 1971 and is based in Solon, Ohio.

Sell -
Buyer

Onex Partners

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1984
PE ASSETS 23.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Onex Partners is the private equity investment arm of Onex Corp., a Canadian based public investment and asset management firm that also invests in real estate and credit securities. Onex Partners targets investments in large companies, and ONCAP which invests in smaller middle-market companies. Both groups consider North American businesses in a wide range of industries with a special interest in aerospace, healthcare, and industrial companies. Prospective transaction situations include corporate carve-outs where the firm can leverage restructuring capabilities. Onex Corp. was established in 1984 and is based in Toronto with an additional office in New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 35 of 58
Sector (Education) 1 of 3
Type (Divestiture) 9 of 12
State (California) 5 of 6
Country (United States) 28 of 42
Year (2015) 3 of 4
Size (of disclosed) 26 of 30
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-06-15 SCP Health

Lafayette, Louisiana, United States

SCP Health is a provider of emergency and hospital medicine physician practice management services in the United States.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-07-02 Jack s

Homewood, Alabama, United States

Jack's is an operator of quick-service restaurants specializing in burgers, fried chicken, made-from-scratch biscuits, crinkle-cut fries, and hand-dipped shakes. Jack's was founded in 1960 and is based in Homewood, Alabama.

Buy -

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Pearson Education

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, United States
Category Company
Founded 1998
Sector Education
DESCRIPTION

Pearson Education is an education services company that provides assessment and training products and services.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 3
Sector (Education) 1 of 2
Type (Divestiture) 1 of 3
State (California) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 1 of 1
Year (2015) 1 of 2
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2011-11-21 Global Education & Technology Group

Beijing,, China

Global Education & Technology Group, is a provider of test preparation services in China for students who are working towards internationally-recognised English language assessments.

Buy $155M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-11-10 Fronter AS

Oslo, Norway

Fronter AS is a cloud based learning platform.

Sell -
Mergr

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