London, UK; 3 October 2025
- CVC will acquire a significant minority stake in ISP
- ISP educates over 110,000 students in 111 schools across 25 countries
- ISP follows a proven growth strategy, adding high-quality schools to its platform in locations with strong demand
Partners Group, one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, acting on behalf of its clients, is to welcome CVC Strategic Opportunities ("CVC"), a leading global private equity manager, as a significant minority shareholder in International Schools Partnership ("ISP" or "the Company"). CVC will acquire a 20% stake in the Company. Partners Group will remain the majority shareholder and OMERS, which acquired a minority stake in ISP in 2021, will also remain a shareholder.
Partners Group and the ISP management team founded the Company in 2013 and have since built it into one of the largest K-12 school platforms globally, educating over 110,000 students in 111 schools across 25 countries. ISP follows a proven growth strategy, adding high-quality schools to its platform in locations with strong demand and enhancing them with the Company's differentiated learning approach. ISP aims to provide a holistic education and develop all aspects of a student's learning experience, with a strong focus on academic progress, as well as the development of language, digital, and life skills.
During its ownership, Partners Group's transformational investing approach has focused on helping ISP's schools to deliver high quality education. In ISP's next phase of growth, the new shareholder group and management team will work together on further driving the Company's successful strategy. Key value creation initiatives will include adding new schools to the platform, investing in the development and implementation of proprietary technology solutions as part of teaching, and further expanding the infrastructure of schools to improve the student experience and provide room for future growth.
Steve Brown, Chief Executive Officer, International Schools Partnership, comments: "ISP's schools seek to be the 'school of choice' in their area. We seek to cultivate lifelong learners who possess the resilience, adaptability, and self-belief to navigate a changing world and future working environments. Partners Group has always shared our fundamental belief in putting students and their education first. As we reflect on our growth to-date, we look forward to welcoming our new shareholders at CVC on board and continuing our mission."
Andrew Deakin, Partner, Partners Group, says: "ISP is one of our proudest achievements as a private equity platform. We started with just an idea, a team, and a thematic conviction that the global education market would continue to grow. After over a decade of hard work, strategic planning, and careful execution alongside the talented management team, we stand as a global leader in K-12 education with a differentiated learning approach. The tailwinds driving our growth are strong and we are excited about the next chapter for ISP. We look forward to welcoming CVC as a new shareholder."
Jan Reinier Voûte, Managing Partner and Co-Head of CVC Strategic Opportunities, CVC, added: "We are excited to embark on our partnership with ISP, one of the world’s leading K12 education platforms. The K-12 sector, and ISP in particular, is an excellent fit for our Strategic Opportunities strategy, which focuses on supporting value creation in long-term partnership investments. We believe ISP is exceptionally well placed for continued growth and, most importantly, provides high-quality education to more than 110,000 students worldwide, creating long-lasting value for families and communities. We look forward to supporting this mission over the coming years, alongside Partners Group having successfully built the group since inception."
About ISP
Partners Group founded International Schools Partnership ("ISP") in 2013 with a small group of experienced leaders from the education sector. ISP acquired its first school in Spain in 2014, quickly followed by schools in the Middle East and North America in 2016. By 2018, ISP was both adding existing schools to its platform and building greenfield schools in certain markets. The tailwinds driving growth in the K-12 education market have continued to accelerate, leading to ISP reaching 111 schools across 25 countries in 2025. Partners Group has been proactively involved in ISP's value creation from the start, investing in education and driving M&A. Partners Group shares ISP's fundamental belief in putting education first and remains a proud majority shareholder. For more about ISP, please visit: www.internationalschoolspartnership.com.
About Partners Group
Partners Group is one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, with around 2’000 professionals and over USD 174 billion in assets under management globally. The firm has investment programs and custom mandates spanning private equity, private credit, infrastructure, real estate, and royalties. With its heritage in Switzerland and primary presence in the Americas in Colorado, Partners Group is built differently from the rest of the industry. The firm leverages its differentiated culture and its operationally oriented approach to identify attractive investment themes and to transform businesses and assets into market leaders. For more information, please visit www.partnersgroup.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
About CVC Capital Partners
CVC is a leading global private markets manager with a network of 30 office locations throughout EMEA, the Americas, and Asia, with approximately €200 billion of assets under management. CVC has seven complementary strategies across private equity, secondaries, credit and infrastructure, for which CVC funds have secured commitments of over €243 billion from some of the world's leading pension funds and other institutional investors. Funds managed or advised by CVC’s private equity strategy are invested in approximately 150+ companies worldwide, which have combined annual sales of over €165 billion and employ nearly 600,000 people. For further information about CVC please visit: www.cvc.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
The CVC Strategic Opportunities platform was established in response to growing demand from large investors to be able to invest longer term in high-quality businesses. The platform provides partnership capital to make control, co-control, and minority investments in companies with a longer-term return profile and a secure capital structure. For further information about CVC Strategic Opportunities please visit: www.cvc.com/strategies/strategic-opportunities.
Partners Group media relations contact
Henry Weston
Phone: +44 207 575 2593
Email: [email protected]
CVC Capital Partners media relations contact
Nick Board
Phone: +44 203 906 9700
Email: [email protected]