Capel Manor College’s acquisition of Hadlow College’s Mottingham Campus
2 Jan 2020 • Corporate Finance • Deal • Education • Transaction Services
We are pleased to announce that Capel Manor College have completed their acquisition of the Mottingham Campus of Hadlow College, including all staff, students and facilities, from 01 January 2020.
The financial challenges facing Hadlow College were such that, in order to secure provision for the learners while balancing the interests of creditors, an application was made to the High Court for Hadlow College to enter into education administration.
This transaction was unique as Hadlow College was the first in the country to be placed into education administration.
This meant that the Mottingham Campus was available for acquisition. The board of directors of Capel Manor College approached our Corporate Finance team to perform financial due diligence on the Mottingham Campus, in order for them to be able to make a commercial decision over the acquisition. We were able to do this by combining our charity team’s expertise in the specialist further education sector, as well as our corporate finance knowledge and experience.
How we helped
We provided a two way due diligence service, not only advising Capel Manor on educationally related assets being transferred and the income they generate, but also assisting with the reverse due diligence performed by the Further Education Commissioner. The courses offered by Capel Manor and the Mottingham Campus are well aligned, which meant the acquisition was the perfect fit.
Working on the first transaction of its kind raised a number of challenges and involved a large number of stakeholders. The most significant challenge was the splitting out of Hadlow College's accounts and deriving what the true performance and asset position of the Mottingham Campus was, as a stand-alone entity. This involved spending significant time supporting various members of the Hadlow, Capel Manor and administrator teams to find out this key information.