Private Equity Investments in Education: A Focus on Partners Group, Spring Education Group, and Industry Trends

The private education sector has emerged as an attractive target for private equity (PE) investors, due to its consistent demand and reliable long-term cash flow. This article delves into the dynamics of private equity investments in education, highlighting the involvement of Partners Group and Spring Education Group, and broader industry trends.

Private Equity Investment in International Schools Partnership

CVC Capital Partners acquired a 20% stake in International Schools Partnership (ISP), a private school operator, marking its second investment in the K-12 education sector. Partners Group remains the largest shareholder, while Canadian pension fund OMERS retains its stake, having invested in 2021. The Financial Times reported the deal values the group at approximately €7 billion (about $8.2 billion), more than triple its worth four years prior.

Partners Group founded London-based ISP in 2013. Today, the group operates 111 schools in 25 countries. The new investment is made through CVC‘s Strategic Opportunities strategy, which targets long-duration investments in growth platforms. CVC made a partial exit from GEMS Education, another private K-12 education provider, last year. It sold a majority of its stake to a consortium led by Brookfield, having first invested in 2019.

Spring Education Group: A Portfolio of Acquisitions and Challenges

Spring Education Group (SEG) has been actively involved in acquiring and operating private schools across the United States. Investcorp sold Nobel Learning Communities, a provider of private education in the United States, to Spring Education Group. At the time, Nobel had 25,000 students at 190 schools in 19 states, providing education for students 6 weeks through high school. Primavera Capital Group, an Asia-based investment firm, is a portfolio company of SEG.

Brands and Recognition

Spring Education Group operates a network of schools under various brands. In 2025, many Spring-affiliated schools received A and A+ overall ratings from Niche, a school review platform, including BASIS Independent Brooklyn, Merryhill School in Milpitas, California, Stratford School in Palo Alto, California, and Chesterbrook Academy in Cary, North Carolina.

COVID-19 Impact and School Closures

The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for Spring Education Group. In March 2020, a worker at Touchstone Preschool in Hillsboro, Oregon, operated by SEG, tested positive for COVID-19. In May 2020, a Merryhill preschool in Modesto, California, permanently closed due to economic reasons exacerbated by COVID-19 closures.

Regulatory Scrutiny and Voucher Program Eligibility

In September 2023, Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced the termination of voucher program eligibility for four private schools owned by Spring Education Group.

Private Equity in Education: Trends and Considerations

Private education continues to be an attractive target for PE investors because of its consistent demand and reliable long-term cash flow. However, the industry faces regulatory sensitivities and scrutiny, particularly concerning the quality and accessibility of education.

The Role of Investment Management

Investment management is the process of monitoring an investor’s holdings and making decisions on the investor’s behalf regarding those holdings. The objective of allocating capital is to achieve certain investment objectives through a strategy that intelligently mixes various financial instruments and other assets. Investment management services are provided by a variety of enterprises, including wealth management firms, brokers, financial planners, and mutual fund providers.

Private Equity and Its Impact

Private equity firms play a significant role in the education sector by providing capital and expertise to improve and expand educational institutions. However, concerns have been raised about the potential impact of PE ownership on tuition costs, teacher turnover, and educational quality.

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Child Care Crisis and the Role of For-Profit Organizations

Parents may also rely on relatives or friends to provide unpaid care when needed. Data from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) find that center-based child care providers served roughly 9.5 million children in that year, while listed home-based providers (i.e., those on state or national lists of providers) served roughly 800,000 children and unlisted paid home-based providers (i.e., those who do not appear on state or national lists but regularly provide paid care) served roughly 3.5 million children. A.R. Datta, Z. Gebhardt, and C. Datta, C. Milesi, S. Srivastava, and C. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, OPRE Report No. The 2019 NSECE is being used because data from the recent 2024 NSECE have not yet been released. The 2019 data should be treated as illustrative, not predictive, given uncertainty regarding potential medium- and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the child care industry. For more information, see A.R. Datta, Z. Gebhardt, and C. Datta, C. Milesi, S. Srivastava, and C. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, OPRE Report No.

The Learning Experience, a large child care organization with more than 39,000 slots in reported capacity (as of 2020) is the one organization in Table 1 that appeared in Exchange's 2023 list but not the 2024 list. For more information, see Kathy Ligon, "Thirty-Seventh Annual Status Report on For-Profit Child Care," Exchange, Spring 2024, pp. This estimate was developed by the Congressional Research Service using data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey.

Challenges in Child Care

For example, NSECE data suggest that 45% of independent for-profit providers and 47% of for-profit franchises and chains experienced high turnover, compared to 30% or less among all other types of providers (e.g., those run by nonprofits or government entities). A center is characterized as having high turnover if more than 20% of the staff working with children left the center in the last 12 months. See Sara Amadon, Ying-Chun Lin, and Christina M.

Investment Management Landscape

Investment management is the process of monitoring an investor’s holdings and making decisions on the investor’s behalf regarding those holdings. The objective of allocating capital is to achieve certain investment objectives through a strategy that intelligently mixes various financial instruments and other assets. Investment management services are provided by a variety of enterprises. Including wealth management firms, brokers, financial planners, and mutual fund providers.

Alternatively, investment management is more of a process than an end result. Part of this process involves developing an investment policy and plan and then monitoring its progress in terms of its ability to accomplish its objectives. Those who work in the field of investment management are responsible for managing the funds and other assets of investors. When discussing how to manage financial assets and other investments, the term “investment management” is use. Depending on the chosen time horizon; management is the act of devising a plan for buying and selling investments in the short-term or long-term. This is a typical term for the process of monitoring and adjusting a portfolio’s asset allocation in order to accomplish a particular financial objective.

43 percent of the world’s assets are manage only by the top twenty investment management businesses. Five of the most successful financial advice firms in the United States include Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, and UBS Wealth Management.

Recent Investment Management Initiatives

Brookfield Asset Management has announced the launch of the Brookfield Private Equity Fund (Canada) (BPE-CAD), a new evergreen investment vehicle designed to provide streamlined access to the firm’s global private equity platform. EP Wealth Advisors, a fee-only registered investment advisor (RIA), has announced a significant milestone in its growth journey by entering into a definitive agreement with Ares Management's Private Equity funds. This agreement enables Ares Management to acquire a substantial minority stake in EP Wealth, bringing its expertise and resources into the fold.

Manulife Investment Management announced the final close of Manulife Investment Management Fund III, raising US 5.5 billion. The fund significantly surpassed its original target raise. MIF III focuses on investing in high quality core-plus infrastructure assets across North America. The successful fundraising emphasizes the firm's reputation for executing mid-market infrastructure strategies. Manulife IM has 20 years of experience providing strong risk adjusted returns for investors. Anne Valentine Andrews, global head of private markets at Manulife IM, celebrated this milestone as the largest fund raised to date. Recep Kendircioglu, global head of infrastructure at Manulife IM, noted tremendous interest since the launch of their first Infrastructure Fund in 2018. MIF III has already made 11 investments and is off to a strong start. The investment team is focused on sourcing differentiated opportunities designed to withstand market volatility. Avyanna De Biswas, head of infrastructure investor relations, expressed gratitude for the support from long-standing investors and excitement to welcome new ones. Campbell Lutyens acted as fundraising placement agent and Ropes & Gray provided legal counsel for the fundraising. Manulife IM offers a range of global private market capabilities including infrastructure, real estate, timberland, agriculture, private equity, and credit. Manulife Wealth & Asset Management serves 19 million individuals and institutions globally.

Ares Management has raised approximately $5.3 billion for its Infrastructure Secondaries strategy.

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