Gide advises Laureate Education Inc. on the sale of five French higher education institutions, held via its French holding, Laureate International Universities France SAS (LIUF), to the investment fund Apax Partners. Bpifrance will co-invest alongside Apax and hold around 10% of the capital of LIUF. The institutions concerned, which train some 7,500 students, are the Ecole Supérieure du Commerce Extérieur (ESCE), the Institut Français de Gestion (IFG), the European Business School (EBS), the Ecole Centrale d'Electronique (ECE) and the Centre d'Études Politiques et de la Communication (CEPC).

The transaction is subject to the competition authority’s approval.

Legal counsel to Laureate Education:
Gide: partner Hugues Scalbert, counsel Annabelle Raguenet de Saint Albin and Juliette de Waele

Legal counsel to Apax Partners:
Linklaters: partner Vincent Ponsonnaille, Laurent Victor-Michel and Mehdi Boumédine