Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised global private equity firms, KKR and EMK Capital, who represents Bregal Investments in relation to Cognita, on their agreement for the sale of the entire issued share capital of Cognita, the leading global schools group, to Jacobs Holding AG (‘Jacobs Holding’) of Switzerland.
 
Cognita operates over 70 schools across 8 countries, educating more than 40,000 children. The organisation was established in 2004 by Bregal Investments with the acquisition of a single school in the UK and expanded successfully into Europe, Asia and Latin America.
 
Cognita continued to grow rapidly and in 2013 KKR invested to become a 50 per cent shareholder in the company, giving even greater support to Cognita’s growth across the globe and helping to build a world-class organisation.
 
Since then, through significant additional investment, the company’s growth has accelerated in both Asia and Latin America, educating more than 20,000 children in these markets. From inception, Cognita has strived to improve the quality of  education and provide genuinely inspiring environments for children to develop.
 
The Freshfields team is being led by partner Patrick Ko.
 
No financial details of the transaction have been disclosed.