Capstone Partners, a national investment banking advisory firm, announced today that it has successfully advised Education Consolidation Corporation (ECC) and Maxim Partners LLC on its acquisition of Robertson College. Robertson is a 100-year-old career college, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which provides allied health, business and IT education through three campuses and online programs in the provinces of Manitoba and Alberta. ECC is an investment vehicle founded by Robert Prendergast, one of Canada’s leading post-secondary education industry executives, in partnership with Chicago-based Maxim Partners to consolidate quality post-secondary education institutions throughout Canada. Capstone was ECC’s exclusive advisor and also co-invested in the transaction.
We are very excited to partner with ECC and Robert to create the premier career-oriented Canadian educational institution within and beyond its current presence in Manitoba and Alberta. We believe that Robertson College’s 100-year-old legacy for quality student instruction can be utilized in several other provinces and we look forward to supporting ECC with future growth capital to achieve its potential.
“Robertson College is a quality institution that has served thousands of students since its founding in 1911. We look to leverage Robertson’s reputation for superior, career-oriented education in expanding throughout the Prairies as well as utilize Robertson as a platform for future acquisitions in other regions” commented Robert Prendergast, CEO of ECC.
“We are excited to have the support of both ECC and Maxim, which speaks to the quality of our institution, faculty, and programs, and to the consistently proven value proposition that we offer our students. With the new investment, we can now push forward in pursuit of several initiatives which we view as key to Robertson’s growth,” said Henry Devlin, President and CEO of Robertson College.
Robertson College, headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, originally began providing career training in 1911. Currently, the College operates three campuses in Manitoba (Winnipeg and Brandon) and Alberta (Calgary) as well as an online portal. The College currently enrolls over 1,000 students in its 18 different diploma and corporate training programs in Allied Health, Business, Technology and Continuing Education.
Education Consolidation Corporation was established in 2010 by Robert Prendergast with the aim of consolidating individual and regional Canadian private, post-secondary schools into one synergistic and profitable organization. Robert has years of senior executive-level experience in the Canadian for-profit education sector with CDIS, AI, and TEC The Education Company (Stenberg College and the Centres for Arts and Technology). Robert also has served as a board and executive member of the BC Career Colleges Association and is currently an executive board member of the National Association of Career Colleges and an executive board member of CETAC, the Canadian Education Training Accreditation Commission.
Maxim Partners, LLC is a Chicago-based private equity firm dedicated to lower middle-market private companies pursuing growth strategies in the Education, Environmental, Energy and Wellness industries. Maxim’s deep knowledge of sector fundamentals and industry-specific economic cycles, extensive networks of relationships, and proprietary methods for identifying expansion opportunities allow it to uniquely generate incremental value for its portfolio companies and entrepreneurial partners beyond merely injecting financial capital.
Awards & Accolades
- 2011: Canada M&A Deal of The Year – Middle Markets
