Kids&Us has a new financial partner to accelerate its growth and consolidate one of the biggest success stories that have emerged in recent years in the education sector. The Catalan English language teaching firm for children and teenagers has just brought in the British fund Charterhouse, a private equity giant based in London that manages assets of 6 billion euros and specializes in investing in medium-sized companies, into its shareholding. Kids & Us has 170,000 students and 550 English academies located in Spain, Italy, Belgium, France, Mexico, and Japan.
Charterhouse, which currently had no other portfolio company in Spain, has acquired the majority of Kids&Us's capital in alliance with the firm's founders and another investment group, Corpfin Capital, who will control the rest of the shareholding. The price of the transaction has not been disclosed, but according to some sources consulted by Expansión, it could amount to 280 million euros.
With the aim of boosting its growth and the professionalization of the company, Corpfin Capital bought a majority stake in Kids&Us in 2017. Now, five years later, Charterhouse replaces Corpfin in this role as main shareholder, but this fund is not completely disassociated, as it has chosen to reinvest in the chain alongside the founders.
Founded in Manresa (Barcelona) in 2003 by Natàlia Perarnau and Quim Serracanta, Kids&Us has developed an English learning method for students aged between 1 and 18 that reproduces the natural process of acquiring the mother tongue. The system combines face-to-face and virtual teaching through online activities and technologies adapted to each age group. "We are delighted to invest in Kids&Us; we look forward to working closely with its fantastic management team to share our extensive experience in international expansion and our knowledge in scaling businesses linked to the education sector," highlights Pierre de Sarrau, one of Charterhouse's managing partners.
According to the investment group, the acquisition of Kids&Us is the fifth acquisition Charterhouse has made in the last two years in the education sector, where it has also taken stakes in companies such as GES-Eductive Group and Novetude Santé. "The entry into Kids&Us will allow supporting its ambition to become a global leader in English language teaching," assures the fund, which plans to continue boosting its expansion in Europe and other regions of the world. "The investment will also help consolidate Kids&Us's leadership in Spain and develop new digital content to improve the offering available to students," notes the British firm.
"We are excited to partner with Charterhouse to usher in the next phase of growth at Kids&Us. In recent years, we have established a solid platform for a new phase of expansion and we are convinced that Charterhouse is the right partner to guide our development, supporting the implementation of our ambitious growth strategy, while preserving the essence of Kids&Us," added Ana Rojo, CEO of the chain.
The Kids&Us teaching method was developed by the philologist Natàlia Perarnau, a language enthusiast ---she speaks six languages--- who founded her first English school at just 23 years old, while still studying at the University of Barcelona. In this adventure, she has been accompanied by her husband, Quim Serracanta, a business graduate and former professional water polo player. The entrepreneur worked for more than 10 years at Montesa-Honda and also at RACC before fully focusing on Kids&Us and expanding its method through a franchise-based business model.