IES acquires the remaining 50% of the shares of Spanish holding company International Education Partnership, S.L.

Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige Holdings II AB (”Internationella Engelska Skolan” or ”IES”) has acquired the remaining 50% of the shares of joint venture International Education Partnership, S.L (”IEP”), which was incorporated in May 2018. The seller is IES’s collaborative partner in Spain, the Monzonis family. Until the transaction, IEP was held 50:50 by IES and the Monzonis family. After the acquisition, IES holds 100% of the shares of IEP, and accordingly, IEP’s accounts will be consolidated into the IES group effective July 2018.

The expected purchase consideration for the 50% of IEP is EUR 12 m, of which EUR 9.5 m was paid on 9 July 2018, and a maximum expected additional purchase consideration of EUR 2.5 m will be paid in 18 months at the earliest. The additional purchase consideration is dependent on IEP’s earnings performance. The EUR 13.5 m loan from IES previously issued to IEP will remain in place for the present.

IEP holds 99.55% of the shares of English School of Asturias, and 100% of the shares in two of Grupo Educativo Elians’s three school operators in Spain, located in Castellon and La Nucia. The fourth Spanish school, that IES holds a participating interest in, is located in Valencia and will continue be 50:50 owned by IES and the Monzonis family.

The operations within IEP will be consolidated into the IES group accounts and are in the financial year 2018/19 expected to generate revenues of EUR 15.3 m and an EBITDA of EUR 2.9 m. The operations within IEP has a total of 197 teachers and its total employee headcount is 248. Additionally, in the financial year 2018/2019, the 50:50 owned school in Valencia is expected to generate revenues of EUR 5.4 m with expected EBITDA of EUR 0.8, to be integrated in the IES accounts according to the equity method. Its total number of teachers is 60, and its total employee headcount is 86.

”We continue to focus on being part of the solution for the Swedish school system. In parallel we’re now taking the next step in our expansion on the attractive Spanish school market, after our initial acquisition in fall 2016. We now have good quality systems, a strong management and good financial governance over operations. By acquiring the remaining shares of IEP, we obtain full control over operations, and have a good foundation for continued improvement and expansion in Spain,” commented Annette Brodin Rampe, IES’s CEO.

For more information, please contact:

Johan Hähnel, IR Manager, IES
Tel: +46 (0)70 605 6334
e-mail: johan.hahnel@engelska.se

This information is mandatory for Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige Holdings II AB (publ) to publish pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the above contact, on 9 July 2018 at 3:00 p.m. CET.

About Internationella Engelska Skolan

Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is one of the leading free school operators in Sweden with some 24,000 students in 34 schools at the beginning of the academic year 2017/18. IES operates schools for students from preschool until the third year of upper secondary school. 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 nine of the ten largest free schools. IES’s results on the national tests in grade 9 are far above average in Sweden. 

Internationella Engelska Skolan was founded in 1993 and is in its 25th 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 targets.

Up to half of the teaching in IES schools is in English, by native English speaking teachers. Over 700 teachers with qualified foreign teaching degrees are currently teaching in IES schools. They are mainly recruited from Canada, USA, UK and South Africa.

IES’s student base is in high growth. Over the past ten years, total operating income has increased organically by an average of 19% per year. In the most recent financial year 2016/17, which concluded on 30 June 2017, total operating income was SEK 2,043.3 m, an increase of some 13% year on year. As of 30 March 2018, there were approximately 179,000 applications in the waiting list to secure a place for the current and forthcoming years.

Internationella Engelska Skolan has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap, with the ticker ENG, since the end of September 2016. The largest (indirect) shareholders of IES are TA Associates of the US, which has close affiliations to leading universities and foundations in the US, and IES’s founder Barbara Bergström. Other major shareholders as of the end of June 2018 include Paradigm Capital, investment company Öresund, Swedbank Robur fonder, the Third Swedish National Pension Fund, SEB fonder and AMF Försäkring & Fonder (owned jointly by LO, The Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise). 

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