Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer Advises EMK Capital LLP, Bregal Capital LLP on Sale to CVC Capital Partners

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer's London Private Equity team has advised EMK Capital LLP and Bregal Capital LLP on the sale of the QA Group, the IT training company, to CVC Capital Partners. CVC Capital Partners is one of Europe's largest private equity firms and currently manages over $44 billion in assets and has funds managed or invested in 51 companies worldwide. Barclays Bank has underwritten the debt financing for the transaction.

QA is the UK’s market leader in the IT education and training sector. It has expanded rapidly to assist over 5000 UK public and private sector businesses to meet increasing demands on their IT and digital business needs including cyber security, cloud computing and big data. QA run 1500 courses at learning centers throughout the UK under a number of its operations including learning, training, consulting and higher education.

Edmund Lazarus, managing partner of EMK Capital LLP and former managing partner of Bregal Capital LLP, commented: "This was an important transaction for us that required focused, efficient and commercially astute execution. Accordingly, we once again turned to our trusted advisers at APKS who gave us full support and partnered with us in achieving our objectives."

The Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer team in London has a deep-rooted relationship with EMK Capital LLP and Bregal Capital LLP which dates back to the establishment of Bregal Capital in 2002 and this deal represents another significant transaction in that relationship.

Lead partner Andrew Harris commented: "We congratulate EMK and Bregal on the success of the sale to CVC. Having advised on the original buy-out of QA in 2007, it is a genuine pleasure to see the success and impressive growth of the company recognized by this disposal to CVC."

The Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer team was led by London Private Equity & Corporate M&A Partner Andrew Harris. The team also included partner David Gerber and associates Andrew Ross, Benjamin Kieft, Lucy Johnson-Cameron, and Tom Wilson from the Private Equity & Corporate group. The financing support was provided by banking counsel Colin Tan and associates Martin Forster-Jones and Irma Baldo from the Syndicated and Leveraged Finance group. Antitrust advice was provided by partner Tim Frazer and associate Laura Wright. Partners Henry Clinton-Davis provided support on employment issues and Richard Dickinson on IP matters.