Paris — Ardian, a leading private equity firm, announ­ces the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in AD Educa­tion along­side Kevin Guene­gan, the group’s foun­der and CEO as well as the manage­ment team. AD Educa­tion is one of the leading Euro­pean plat­forms for educa­tion in the fields of art, design, digi­tal and audio­vi­sual. As part of the part­ner­ship with AD Educa­tion, Ardian will help the manage­ment team acce­le­rate growth both orga­ni­cally and through further acqui­si­ti­ons, as well as drive geogra­phic expansion.

AD Educa­tion was foun­ded in 2009 and focu­ses on the areas of crea­tive arts. With more than 15,000 students in 12 insti­tu­ti­ons and 36 campu­ses in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, AD Educa­tion covers four segments: Design & Graphi­cal Arts, Media & Digi­tal, Audio­vi­sual and Culture & Luxury.

In Germany, AD Educa­tion is repre­sen­ted by the Hoch­schule für Medien, Kommu­ni­ka­tion und Wirt­schaft (HMKW), which has campu­ses in Berlin, Colo­gne and Frank­furt. In France, the company has estab­lished itself as the market leader over the last ten years.

The ARDIAN consul­tants involved:
Emma­nuel Miquel, Nico­las Trani, Jean-Baptiste Hunaut, Anouk Daoudal

Buyer M&A advi­sors: Center­view Partners
Nico­las Constant, Pierre Pasqual, Matthieu Sommier, Cassandre Devoir
Buyer legal advisor:
Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her: Eduardo Fernan­dez, Gil Kiener, Louis Jambu-Merlin (corpo­rate)
Latham & Watkins (Xavier Farde, Carla-Sophie Impe­ra­deiro (finan­cing), Olivia Rauch-Ravisé, Clémence Morel (struc­tu­ring)),
Buyer stra­te­gic DD: EY Parthe­non (Guéric Jacquet, Anna Grotberg),
Buyer finan­cial DD: KPMG (Guil­hem Maguin, Grégo­ire Didier),
Buyer legal DD: Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her (Eduardo Fernan­dez, Gil Kiener, Louis Jambu-Merlin),
Buyer tax DD: KPMG Avocats (Sophie Fournier-Dedoyard),
Buyer labor DD: Chassany Watre­lot et Asso­ciés (Julien Boucaud-Maitre)