Swiss Family Office Snaps Up £2bn British Schools Giant Cognita

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Link: Swiss family office snaps up £2bn British schools giant Cognita [sky News]

 

A Swiss family office whose investment firepower was partly generated by an international chocolate producer is on the verge of sealing a £2bn takeover of one of Britain's biggest private school empires.

 

Sky News has learnt that Jacobs Holding, which owns a big stake in the chocolate and cocoa producer Barry Callebaut, is to buy Cognita, which operates scores of schools in the UK and abroad.

 

Jacobs Holding's sole economic beneficiary is the Jacobs Foundation, a charitable cause focused on child and youth development.

 

The deal will represent its biggest UK takeover to date, and will come months after Cognita's controlling shareholders, the private equity investors KKR and EMK Capital, hoisted a for sale sign above the business...