Warburg Pincus Brushes Up Its English –

Warburg Pincus this month invested $25 million in the combined acquisitions of Aspect, from Sylvan Learning Systems, and International Language Academies, from Nord Anglia Education PLC. The combined company will be called Aspect Holdings and will be a major player in the international English Language Travel (ELT) business sector.

Partners at the firm could not be reached for comments for this article.

In a statement, Nick Lowcock, a managing director at Warburg Pincus, said, “The ELT market is seeing significant growth, driven by globalization and increased accessibility to international travel. Approximately 1.2 million students currently spend a total of $2.7 billion on services provided by the industry.”

Aspect is based in the U.S. and operates 24 English Language Schools in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland. International Language Academies operates nine English Language Schools in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Both businesses offer intensive language courses, language school year programs, placement and consulting packages for students, as well as air and land travel packages.

Warburg Pincus’ other portfolio companies in the education and training sector include: Apex Learning; Chancellor Academies; ePronet; kidsnet Co.; Powerschool; Scientific Learning Corp.; Skillsoft Corp.; Wisers Ltd. and Workscape Inc.