Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Menden Ventures Consulting (“mvc”), a German EdTech investor based in Berlin, on its acquisition of Eurocentres Language Teaching from the current Swiss owner, The Foundation for Language and Educational Centres.
The transaction comprises all Eurocentres’ English activities, including schools in the UK, a franchise network, and teaching provisions across the world, including activities in the US, Canada, Australia, Malta, Saudi Arabia and soon to be operational activities in India.
Eurocentres is a 70-year-old brand, established in Bournemouth in the UK in 1948 by Swiss Erhard Waespi. It had expanded its footprint via owned centres and franchise agreements. Asked why the sale was seen as the best solution for Eurocentres, the Foundation explained that changes in the market had made the charitable running of the firm untenable and pinpointed the focus that mvc has on employability and career as a good fit for onward growth. Berlin-based mvc already owns various companies in the EdTech and Career space, and Eurocentres is its first ELT market move and its first UK-led acquisition.
The WFW London team that advised mvc was led by Lead Partner Jan Mellmann, supported by Partners Tom Jarvis (Tax) and Louise Kyle (Real Estate), Senior Associates Charlotte Williams (Real Estate) and Devan Khagram (Employment) and Associate Nicholas Connell (Corporate).
Lead Partner Jan Mellmann commented: “We are very pleased that we were asked to assist mvc on its first UK-led acquisition. The original vision for Eurocentres was that learning a language should be an enjoyable, enriching and personal experience that increased understanding between cultures and, as an experienced EdTech investor, mvc will be a good home to build on that vision in the current market. As an international law firm with an excellent history in cross-border M&A and private equity transactions, we very much support these ideals”.
