Ropes & Gray Advises BPEA EQT in Partnership with Nord Anglia Education to Acquire IMG Academy for $1.25 Billion

Ropes & Gray represented BPEA Private Equity Fund VIII (an affiliated investment fund of BPEA EQT) in partnership with existing portfolio company Nord Anglia Education in a deal to acquire IMG Academy from Endeavor Group Holdings. The transaction was announced on April 25 and reflects an enterprise value of $1.25 billion.

IMG Academy is a leading education institution supporting over 100,000 student-athletes across its suite of sports education services. It provides a sports-focused boarding schools, sports camps, online coaching and college recruiting. With Asia being IMG Academy’s largest source of international students, BPEA EQT and Nord Anglia plan to support its overseas expansion and leverage partnerships between the two institutions, including integrating IMG Academy’s services in Nord Anglia’s curriculum global platform spanning 33 countries.

Nord Anglia has global partnerships with renowned education institutions including Julliard to enhance its performing arts offerings, Massachusetts Institute of Technology to enrich science, technology, engineering and mathematics and UNICEF to help students develop social purpose and global citizenship.

Ropes & Gray previously advised BPEA EQT in its $1.2 billion purchase of the healthcare services business of Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. in 2022; its $2 billion take-private of Virtusa Corp. in 2021; and its purchase of Lumenis Ltd. from XIO Group for $1 billion in 2020 and $1.07 billion sale of Lumenis's global surgical business to Boston Scientific Corp. in 2021.

The Ropes & Gray team on the IMG Academy acquisition includes private equity partners Marty Ruhaak and Neill Jakobe, IP transactions partner Erica Han, employment & benefits partner Jen Cormier, tax partner Elaine Murphy, private equity partner Elizabeth Todd, IP transactions counsel Tom Burke, tax counsel Michael Mendel, private equity counsel Janet Coscino, private equity associates Lyndsey Greenfield and Leah Sibbio Blue, and IP transactions associate Daniel Freshman.

The team also includes litigation & enforcement partners Andy Dale, Jeff Bushofsky, Tim Farrell and Chris Conniff, real estate investments & transactions partners David Kaye and Peter Alpert, finance partners Alex Zeltser and Arek Maczka, data privacy & cybersecurity partner Ed McNicholas, IP transactions partner Ed Black, capital markets partner Michael Littenberg, business restructuring partner Ben Rhode, litigation & enforcement counsel Steve Kaye and real estate investments & transactions counsel Pete Scherer.