About Aspire Education
Aspire Education was founded in 2014 via the merger of ibis acam, Stepin and ARS and is one of the major private players in the education sector with activities in the B2P as well as the B2B/B2C market in Austria and Germany. In 2018, the portfolio was further expanded with ETC; in 2022, the company entered the German B2B and B2P market with the acquisition of brainymotion.
Aspire Education Group (“Aspire Education”), a privately operated education group in the German-speaking region majority-owned by EMZ Partners, continues to grow. Contracts were signed to acquire five WEKA Group companies in Switzerland and Germany (“WEKA Education”), expected to be effective on 30 September 2023.
The combination enables a significant expansion of the two groups’ offerings, both geographically and in terms of courses, and sets the foundation for leveraging synergies including further optimization of course offerings for participants. The acquisition marks a significant and transformative milestone in the strategic development of Aspire Education.
Johannes Lampert and Udo Schelkes, co-CEOs of Aspire Education, emphasize: “We are very pleased to quickly implement the growth strategy announced at the time of the acquisition by EMZ in December with such a significant step. The complementary educational activities of WEKA Education in Switzerland and Germany are a perfect fit, also in terms of quality standards. The two portfolios complement each other very well and enable us to accompany our learners even better on their educational journey.”
Klaus Maurer, Senior Partner at EMZ adds: “The combination of the Aspire Group with the activities of the WEKA Group creates a leading educational group with a focus on adult education in the DACH region. We are pleased to help shape this development as co-shareholder and partner of the management team.”
Stephan Bernhard, CEO of WEKA Education adds: “We are delighted to become part of the Aspire Education Group, with whom we share the same values as well as a complementary offering. It will be a great pleasure to further develop the extensive education offering in the DACH region with shared ideas, resources and formats. The WEKA Education division focuses strongly on B2B target groups, which we want to further expand together. The newly established group lays the foundation for a significant further development step.”
Aspire Education was advised by Latham & Watkins (Legal, Corporate and Structure), NKF (Legal, Corporate), goetzpartners (Commercial), PwC (Financial, Tax), Houlihan Lokey (M&A, Debt Advisory) as well as Goodwin Procter (Legal, Financial).
