KKR & Francisco Partners Competing in $3bn Bid for Instructure

Private equity firms KKR and Francisco Partners are competing to acquire Instructure, a U.S. education software provider with a market value of $3.4bn. The two buyout firms are through to the final round of bidding for Instructure and are preparing to submit binding offers next week, the sources said.

 

There is no certainty that private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which holds an 83% stake in Instructure, will agree to sell it, and other bidders could emerge, the sources added, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential.

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Instructure, KKR, Francisco Partners and Thoma Bravo declined to comment.
Based in Salt Lake City, Instructure provides software to schools, colleges and universities. It has over 8,000 customers in more than 100 countries.
The company’s flagship learning management system is called Canvas and competes with programs such as Google Classroom, Blackboard Learn and Schoology.
Thoma Bravo took Instructure private in 2020 for $2 billion before returning it to the stock market a year later through an initial public offering (IPO).
Instructure’s shares are hovering just a little over their $20 IPO price three years later, as a boom the company enjoyed from spending on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic fizzled when competition from rivals intensified.
Earlier this year, Instructure completed the acquisition of academic credential management platform Parchment for $835 million. Reuters reported in May that Thoma Bravo had put Instructure up for sale.
Source: Reuters

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