RESTON, Va.– Blackstone (NYSE: BX) (“Blackstone”) and Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”) today announced that private equity funds managed by those firms have agreed to acquire Ellucian (the “Company”), a leading higher education technology solutions provider, from TPG Capital, the private equity platform of global alternative asset firm TPG, and Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (“LGP”). Blackstone and Vista will invest in Ellucian through their respective long-term private equity strategies, which hold investments for longer periods than traditional private equity.
Ellucian delivers mission-critical, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to higher-education institutions. The Company’s solutions and services are created with a single goal: to set its customers up for long-term success with secure, flexible technology designed for the complexities of higher education. Ellucian has more than 2,700 customers in over 50 countries, improving operations and enhancing the user experience for their faculties, staff and over 26 million students.
Eli Nagler, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “Digital transformation is one of Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes and Ellucian has proven itself a clear leader in the fast-growing higher-education technology sector. The long-term nature of our partnership with Ellucian will allow us to invest substantially in innovation for its customers.” Martin Brand, Head of North American Private Equity at Blackstone and Global Co-Head of Technology Investing, added: “We are excited to be partnered with Vista, and look forward to working with Laura and Ellucian’s first-class management team to accelerate growth and drive the company’s global expansion.”
Jim Hickey, Co-Head of Vista’s Perennial Fund and Senior Managing Director said, “Technology has become even more mission critical to increase agility, efficiency and impact for higher education administration.” Burke Norton, Co-Head of Vista’s Perennial Fund and Senior Managing Director, added: “As a market leader and innovator, Ellucian has a tremendous opportunity to further modernize diverse higher education institutions globally. We look forward to partnering with Ellucian to elevate the higher education experience, while improving outcomes for institutions, instructors and students alike.”
“We are excited to welcome Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners to the Ellucian team at such a pivotal time in higher education,” said Laura Ipsen, President & Chief Executive Officer of Ellucian. “Their investment strategy represents a long-horizon commitment to our company with significant new capital to accelerate digital transformation, our open SaaS platform and international growth. On behalf of the team, I’d also like to thank TPG and Leonard Green for their valuable contributions and strategic partnership over the years.”
“Under Laura’s transformational leadership, we assembled a highly experienced team and expanded the Company’s suite of cloud-ready solutions to create a platform purpose-built for the modern, higher education institution,” said Tim Millikin, Partner at TPG Capital. “We want to thank the entire Ellucian team for their partnership over the past six years and wish them continued success as they enter their next chapter,” continued Usama Cortas, Partner at LGP.
RBC Capital Markets, LLC served as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to Blackstone. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Vista. UBS Investment Bank served as financial advisor to TPG Capital, LGP, and Ellucian. Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to Ellucian and Morgan Lewis & Bockius served as legal counsel to the management team. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
