Most education investors plan the launch in detail and leave the exit to sort itself out. That is backwards. The eventual buyer, and the price they will pay, should shape the model from day one.
Whether the plan is a single school, a multi-country platform, or a real estate play, the endgame determines how the business should be built now. This is who buys education assets, what they pay, and how to build something they will want.
Five ways investors exit education
Strategic acquisition
The most common exit. A larger group or operator buys a school or a cluster of campuses to expand its brand, market share, or regional footprint. Active acquirers include Nord Anglia, Inspired Education, Cognita, and Maple Bear. It suits quality assets in markets those groups want to enter.
Private equity recapitalisation
A private equity firm buys in, often as the anchor of a platform or roll-up strategy, then builds scale before its own exit. Institutional investors such as Partners Group have backed education platforms across Asia and beyond. It suits scalable models with repeatable systems and clear expansion potential.
Real estate sale and leaseback
The owner sells the land and buildings to a REIT or property investor and keeps operating under a long-term lease. It releases the capital tied up in property while retaining operational control, and it suits owners who want to recycle capital into growth.
Franchise or licensing
Some owners grow by franchising or licensing their model, then exit partly or fully by selling the brand or the master rights. It suits IP-driven schools with strong curriculum, systems, or brand equity.
Public listing
Rare, but open to large platforms with significant revenue and recognition. It suits multi-country operators or digital-first models at real scale.
Who is buying
Different buyers want different things, and knowing which one you are building for changes how you structure the business.
| Buyer Type | What They Want |
|---|---|
| School Groups | High-performing assets in key markets, often with synergy potential |
| Private Equity | EBITDA, scalability, upside; often platform or roll-up strategy |
| Real Estate Funds | Long leases, stable tenants, premium land parcels |
| Family Offices | Cash flow, mission-alignment, generational legacy |
| Government/Foundations | In some regions, national buy-back programs or education initiatives |
| Operators | Independent educators or consortia looking for turnkey entry |
The distinction matters. A private equity buyer prices EBITDA and scalability; a real estate fund prices the lease and the land; a family office prices durable cash flow and mission fit. Build for the wrong buyer and you leave value on the table.
What buyers pay
Education assets are valued two ways, often at the same time: on their earnings and on their property.
Earnings multiples
The most common method applies a multiple to normalised EBITDA. The multiple rises with scale, quality, and the security of the earnings.
| Asset type | EBITDA multiple | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-scale or standalone school | 5x to 8x | Rarely disclosed; drawn from market practice |
| Established or premium school | 8x to 14x | Rarely disclosed; drawn from market practice |
| Premium single asset or regional platform | 12x to 17x | Underwriting range in supply-constrained markets |
| Scaled global platform | High teens to low twenties | Globeducate transacted at roughly 16.7x including IFRS 16, or 19.4x excluding it, on figures Wendel published |
| Nurseries and early years | 3x to 7x | Lower and more fragmented than school assets |
One caution before using any of these. Most school transactions never disclose earnings at all, so the ranges above rest on a narrow evidence base. GSE catalogues the underlying deals in the International School M&A Transactions Directory, where every figure is graded by whether a party to the transaction actually disclosed it. Of the transactions recorded there, only a minority publish earnings, which is why a quoted multiple should always be traced to the specific deal it came from. Two adjustments matter before any comparison: whether EBITDA is struck before or after IFRS 16, and whether the price includes the freehold. For how these multiples are built, see our guide to how to value an international school and our EBITDA benchmarks.
Real estate valuations
Where the property is owned, it is valued separately on a capitalisation rate, which moves with location and market maturity.
| Evidence | Yield | Source |
|---|---|---|
| UAE triple-net school assets, roughly 20-year WAULT | 7.0% to 7.5% | Al Mal Capital REIT distributed return, published |
| US early education, net lease | 6.9% to 7.1% | Net-lease transaction datasets |
| Emirates REIT education portfolio | 9.5% to 11% | Derived by GSE from audited disclosures |
| Greenfield or pre-development | Not comparable | Varies with land cost, approvals and construction risk |
Note that these are the yields actually published by parties or derived from audited accounts, rather than the tighter rates sometimes quoted for prime school property. Where a school sits inside a diversified fund, the fund-level yield is not the asset-level yield. For how cap rates work across school property, see our analysis of cap rates and yield in education real estate.
What drives exit value
A handful of factors do most of the work in setting the price:
- Enrolment stability and demand trends
- EBITDA margins and revenue visibility
- Accreditation and curriculum quality
- Real estate ownership or long-term lease terms
- Reputation, brand equity, and alumni outcomes
- Scalable systems across technology, academics, and staffing
The mistakes that cost sellers
The same errors show up again and again when a sale disappoints:
- No exit plan, building without a buyer in mind
- Owner-dependent operations, where value drops the moment the founder steps back
- Weak documentation, with poor visibility on financials, staffing, or compliance
- Valuing potential over current performance
- Unclear real estate terms, from lease to zoning to title
Building for the exit from day one
Full value is built years before the sale, in a few deliberate habits:
- Know your buyer from the start, and let it guide the structure
- Keep clean books, current accreditations, and due-diligence-ready records
- Optimise EBITDA and operational performance early, because buyers pay for profit and predictability
- Reduce dependence on any one person, so the business runs without its founder
- Get the real estate position clear and documented well ahead of a sale
Working with GSE
An exit is only as strong as the business behind it, and that business is shaped by decisions made at the very start. With more than 60 school and education projects across 28 countries, GSE works with investors from feasibility and structuring through to the point of sale, building schools that buyers compete for. To plan an investment with the exit in mind, talk to our team.
For more on investing in international schools, see our investment advisory and M&A work.
Read next
- International School M&A Transactions Directory. Verified deal prices, EBITDA multiples and the open dataset, with every figure graded by source.
- How to Value an International School. The three methodologies and what drives premium against discount valuation.
- EBITDA Benchmarks: How Profitable Are International Schools?. Margin evidence across the sector and what drives the spread.
- Cap Rates and Yield in Education Real Estate. Published yield evidence across GCC, US and UK school property.
- The PropCo / OpCo Model in School Development Explained. Why splitting property from operations changes what a school is worth.