One of the UKís few remaining independent education recruitment agencies has been acquired in a deal worth over 4 million, initiated and negotiated by corporate finance boutique Livingstone Guarantee.
Serial entrepreneur, Julian Harley, founded TeachLondon with a highly experienced management team just four years ago. ìThe strategy was always to explore a sale of the business after three years and realize our investmentî he says.
TeachLondon is Julianís third successful sale in the education, training and recruitment arena. He previously developed and sold corporate IT training company Harley-West to Spring Group in l997 for 8.5million and subsequently assisted the original founders with the development and sale of Moorhouse-Black, a schools video-conferencing company, to Nelson Thornes in May 2002.
TeachLondon Ltd, a specialist supplier of teachers and ancillary staff to London schools requiring permanent, long term and short term staff, was purchased by the AIM-listed Public Recruitment Group (ëPRGí) in a deal valuing the company at up to c. 4.3 million.
Having achieved an enviable position in the market place, won a place on the London Recommended Preferred Supplier List, and taken the turnover through the 5 million barrier, the highly experienced team at TeachLondon decided to consider their strategic options, including a sale to a complementary party with whom they could work to grow the business.
They appointed company sale specialists Livingstone Guarantee to assess a number of unsolicited approaches that had been received from potential partners and to evaluate other market opportunities. Tom Phipps, a deal leader at Livingstone Guarantee, says: ìThe fact that the management team at TeachLondon, most of them former teachers, had been together for many years was a key attraction to potential purchasers.î
ìHaving approached a highly qualified list of potential partners, we concluded that TeachLondon would fit extremely well into the declared strategies of PRG who have been on the acquisition trail since flotation on AIM earlier this year.
ìIt has given PRG a substantial presence within the London market together with an established network of overseas offices within a sector that will continue to benefit from substantial Government investment.î
TeachLondon sale sees entrepreneur back to school for third time
One of the UKís few remaining independent education recruitment agencies has been acquired in a deal worth over 4 million