The East Midlands team of LDC, the private equity investor which is part of Lloyds Banking Group, has led the successful exit of its investment in educational specialist The Edwin Group to Quad Partners after a three-and-a-half-year partnership.
The Edwin Group is a values-led business, employing a team of education specialists who work nationally with schools and multi-academy trusts to safely recruit and retain the highest quality leaders, teachers and support staff.
The group is one of the UK’s largest providers of supply teachers to primary, secondary and special educational needs schools across the Vision for Education, ABC Teachers and Smart Teachers brands.
In the last 12 months, The Edwin Group has recruited over 11,000 teaching and support staff and delivered continuing professional development (CPD) to equip them with the skills they need to support schools and their young people.
Further underpinning The Edwin Group’s three strategic pillars to recruit, retain and reduce workload, are staff wellbeing specialists Still Human, curriculum enrichment services Commando Joe’s and Enrich Education, safeguarding platform Llama ID and strategic HR and leadership services from Edwin People.
LDC backed the management buyout of The Edwin Group in December 2020 from Tes Global.
Following the carve-out, the management team, led by CEO Liam Roberts and the core team of Darren Starling, Will Washington and Fiona Baker, pursued an ambitious growth strategy underpinned by four acquisitions and the expansion of the Group’s services.
The business now works with over 4,500 schools across the UK and opened nine new locations during the investment period.
The growth has been accompanied by significant investment in The Edwin Group’s people. During the partnership, the Group bolstered its senior team by appointing Sarah Monk as Chief Strategy Officer, Charlie Afif as Chief Information Officer, Diane Sequeira as Director of Product, Lucy Fox as Director of Strategic Partnerships, Hannah Dimech as Director of Marketing and Lyndsay Greathead as Director of HR.
US-based specialist education investor Quad Partners will now support The Edwin Group on the next stage of its growth journey, as the business continues to broaden its support for schools to address challenges linked to the recruitment and retention of teachers.
Liam Roberts, CEO at The Edwin Group, said: “With the team at LDC’s support, we are now better equipped than ever to meet schools’ and multi-academy trusts increasingly complex needs.
“Importantly, we’ve been able to grow the business and expand our range of products and services without losing sight of our values or our commitment to excellent customer service. We’re looking forward to embarking on this next chapter, working with more schools and multi-academy trusts, to positively impact the lives of young people.’
David Bains, Partner and Head of the East Midlands and East of England at LDC, added: “We were delighted to back a team who had a strong vision for an education services business.
“Almost four years later the same team has created a business that helps schools and multi-academy trusts with their evolving needs and challenges, whilst it has invested in its people, acquired and diversified its services and bolstered its ESG credentials. I wish them every success in the future.”
LDC was advised by Grant Thornton (corporate finance), EY Parthenon (commercial due diligence), BDO (financial due diligence) and Browne Jacobson (legal due diligence).
