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US private equity investor General Atlantic is nearing a deal to buy London-based Learning Technologies Group for more than £800mn, in what would be the latest take-private of a UK-listed business.
In a statement on Friday, Learning Technologies said that it was “minded to recommend unanimously” a £1 per share cash offer from General Atlantic.
Shares in LTG rose 28 per cent to 96p following a report in the Financial Times on Friday afternoon, giving the company a market value of £760mn. People close to the situation said that other private equity groups were monitoring the company as a possible acquisition target.
London-based Learning Technologies provides workplace digital training for government and corporate clients. The company generated £250mn revenue in the first half this year, a 12 per cent decrease from the same time last year. It posted £43.3mn of adjusted earnings before interest and tax over the same period.
Jonathan Satchell, chief executive of LTG and its non-executive chair Andrew Brode acquired the company in 2008 as Epic Group. The company was listed in 2011 and Satchell now owns 9.2 per cent of its shares and Brode, 14.8 per cent.
LTG, which is advised by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis, said in its statement that the £1 per share proposal from General Atlantic had followed “earlier approaches” by the private equity firm to its board.
The company said the General Atlantic offer had included an option for LTG shareholders to choose an unlisted equity alternative. That would allow participating shareholders to reinvest their shares and co-invest in General Atlantic’s unlisted acquisition vehicle, LTG added.
New York-based General Atlantic, which manages $83bn in assets, made its offer for LTG via Atlantic Park, the firm’s structured debt fund, which provides capital to companies at varying stages of their life cycles.
General Atlantic is known for backing fast-growing technology companies such as Alibaba, Facebook and ByteDance.
This year, the buyout firm and Goldman Sachs Asset Management agreed to acquire Norwegian educational technology group Kahoot, shares in which surged during the pandemic, in an all-cash deal worth close to $2bn.
In January, General Atlantic also agreed to make a strategic acquisition of London-based infrastructure group Actis. That acquisition, part of a push into new strategies, added $12.5bn to the manager’s assets under management.
General Atlantic declined to comment.
