goetzpartners advised Quadriga Capital

goetzpartners advised Quadriga Capital on the sale of Aspire Education with a Commercial Vendor Due Diligence

goetzpartners advised Quadriga Capital ("Quadriga") with a Commercial Vendor Due Diligence on the sale of Aspire Education Group ("Aspire"), a leading provider of lifelong learning as well as professional training and education services in Austria and Germany headquartered in Vienna.

Beyond an in-depth review of the group's professional educational and personal development service offering delivered by a network of specialized, individually leading enterprises, dedicated emphasis was applied on Aspire's unique concept around lifelong learning. It included an analysis of educational elements along customers' development lifecycles and concluded in cross-selling opportunities and more top- as well as bottom-line synergies within the network. The business model analysis concluded in a review and assessment of the group's unmatched digital content creation, algorithm-based marketing, delivery, and quality management capabilities - all enhanced by leading in-house digitization know-how.

The market analysis, based on a five-dimensional triangulation of primary and secondary data, was complemented with a quantification of tangible growth potential in adjacent geographies all over Europe as well as Aspire's pioneering role in providing hire-train-deploy solutions for private clients and public stakeholders. Overall, our analyses in this category provided required confidence and visibility for potential investors about manifold growth avenues of Aspire in its addressable market. Through intense collaboration with the entire management team and various renowned industry experts, quantitative and qualitative COVID-19 effects and their impact on Aspire's business model and market environment were assessed. On the customer side of the business, a dedicated survey provided a clear picture of corporate and government customer satisfaction, thereby delivering a quantifiable proof for resilient relationships and Aspire's cruicial contribution for the entire society.

Following a comprehensive competitive analysis and benchmarking, which documented comforting visibility around Aspire's unique network approach and its competitive advantages as well as unmatched digital capabilities, an analysis of the group's order book highlighted the management team's supreme visibility of future sales, which is generated from the company's diversified basis of strong, long-standing customer relationships. A broad variety of beyond-the-plan opportunities complemented the profile of a resilient business model with multiple tangible growth avenues.

The project complements our extensive track record of providing strategic and commercial advisory services in pan-European professional education, qualification, and training markets.

About Aspire
Based in Vienna, Aspire is the leading platform for professional qualification and training in the GSA region and the largest private sector education provider in Austria with 1,200 employees and 100,000 learners per year. The Aspire platform, consisting of the brands ibis acam, ETC, brainymotion, ARS, and Stepin, offers its customers a wide range of services, from software and IT, legal, compliance, tax and finance, to preparing apprentices and jobseekers for starting or reentering the workforce. Aspire, with its targeted learning development resources, also helps to improve employment prospects for individuals, thereby promoting greater economic and social mobility. The Aspire Group invested in online and digital capabilities early on and Aspire customers can access the service offering either on-site, hybrid, or online.

About Quadriga
Quadriga Capital is a leading equity partner for medium-sized companies in the German-speaking region and neighbouring countries. Investors are institutional investors such as pension funds, banks, insurance companies, and family offices from Europe, Asia, and the US. Growth-oriented companies in the healthcare, tech-enabled services and smart industries sectors are the focus of the investment activities. Quadriga Capital has invested in more than 40 companies in recent years, which in turn have made over 120 follow-on acquisitions. Entrepreneurial management teams are supported by a broad range of experience and expertise as well as an international industrial network.

Transaction Team

Dr. Gerrit Schütte
Managing Director

Alexander Reitmann
Principal
Email

Verena Kunst
Senior Consultant

Linh Dong
Consultant