MBO at Glasgow digital learning business

ICS Learn, the Glasgow-based digital learning platform, has undergone a management buyout led by CEO Colin Kennedy and finance director Alison Doyle, and backed by private equity firm Primary Capital Partners.

Law firm Addleshaw Goddard has successfully advised on the sale of the business by venture capital firm Par Equity, which bought the group in 2012.

ICS Learn, whose original business dates back 128 years, has been transformed into a purely online delivery model and is now recognised as a leading distance education provider, catering to more than 15,000 online students globally.

Legal advice for the sale was led by Addleshaw corporate finance partner, Dave Anderson, who acted on behalf of Par Equity, Ironbridge Capital Partners and ICS Learn Chairman, Angus Macdonald, among other shareholders.

Anderson said: “ICS Learn is a great success story, having turned itself into a hugely profitable operation in under five years and now bringing significant investment returns for those that backed it in 2012.”

ICS Learn CEO Kennedy, said: “Our investors have been fantastic partners and supported all of our growth initiatives, most notably the transition to becoming a wholly online business.

“The new ownership will allow ICS Learn to take the next step forward. Primary has a very strong reputation in growth capital investment and I am pleased to be partnering with a shareholder that will support [our] growth.” 0 Dave Anderson – ‘ICS Learn is a success story’