Acquisition of Colegio Inglés Zaragoza

Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige Holdings II AB (”Internationella Engelska Skolan” or ”IES”) has through its wholly-owned Spanish subsidiary International Education Partnership S.L (”IEP”) signed an agreement to acquire the school operations of Colegio Inglés Zaragoza, a private school in Zaragoza, Spain.

Colegio Inglés Zaragoza has 270 students aged from 3 to 16 years. It is a fee-paying bilingual private school which follows the Spanish curriculum. The school is located in the city of Zaragoza which is the fifth largest city in Spain.

Anna Sörelius Nordenborg, CEO of Internationella Engelska Skolan said: ”The acquisition is part of our strategy to continue to grow our Spanish presence. Colegio Inglés Zaragoza is a well run school with a culture very much similar to our Swedish schools, i.e. bilingual and characterised by a calm and orderly environment with high expectations and aspirations for students and staff. Zaragoza has a limited number of private schools and the school is well positioned in the community with room to grow the coming years. We look forward to continuing development of this great school together with students and staff.”

The parties have agreed to keep the purchase price undisclosed. The acquisition is an asset deal which is financed without additional loans. The building is not part of the acquisition and will be rented. Operating income for the school for the financial year 2018/19 was approximately TEUR 1,800 and EBITDA  adjusted for rent approximately TEUR 400.

The closing of the acquisition is subject to customary conditions and approvals from relevant regulatory authorities and is expected to be concluded in the third quarter.

With the acquisition of the school in Zaragoza, Internationella Engelska Skolan has six wholly-owned schools in Spain with a total of 2,800 students.

For more information please contact:

Emma Rheborg, Head of Communication & IR, IES
Telephone: + 46 768 511 540
E-mail: emma.rheborg@engelska.se 

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the above contact, on 6 December 2019 at 16:15 CET.  

About Internationella Engelska Skolan

Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is one of the leading free school operators in Sweden with some 26,800 students at 37 schools, and about 2,500 students at its schools in Spain.

IES Sweden conducts school operations from “förskoleklass” (grade F) up to the third and final year of upper secondary school (grade 12). Its main focus is grades 4-9, what is often called “middle school.” Within the compulsory school system in Sweden, IES is the leading independent operator, with 17 of the 20 largest free schools. The academic results of IES schools on the national tests in grade 9 are far above average in Sweden.

Internationella Engelska Skolan was founded in 1993 and is in its 27th year of operation. Throughout this period, its schools have been defined by the three core convictions of its founder, Mrs. Barbara Bergström:

• A safe and orderly environment, where teachers can teach and students learn.
• To command the English language − the key to the world.
• High academic expectations and aspirations.

Up to half of teaching is conducted in English by teachers whose native language is English. Over 800 teachers with qualified foreign teaching degrees are currently teaching in IES schools. They are mainly recruited from Canada, the USA, the UK and South Africa.

The IES student base is growing strongly. Over the past ten years, total operating income has increased by an average of 19% per year. In the most recent financial year 2018/19, which concluded on 30 June 2019, total operating income was MSEK 2,781.1, an increase of some 18% year on year. As of 30 September 2019, there were approximately 204,700 applications in the queue to secure a place in the Swedish schools for the current and forthcoming years.

Internationella Engelska Skolan has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap, with the ticker ENG, since 2016.

The largest (indirect) shareholders of IES are TA Associates of the US, which has close affiliations to leading universities and trusts in the US, Barbara Bergström, the founder of IES, and Paradigm Capital AG through different funds. At the end of September 2019, the 10 largest shareholders also included Swedbank Robur fonder and AMF Försäkring & Fonder (owned jointly by LO, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise).