HIG Capital enters the capital of International School of Europe (ISE), a leading grop of private exclusive international schools based in Italy founded in 1957 by the Formiga family (download here the press release).
ISE manages schools in Milan, Modena, Monza and Siena and has 1.500 students from more than 60 countries. From early years school through to high school, the ISE group International Schools offer the curriculum of the International Baccalaureate.
The deal will be made through HIG Europe fund and represents the first investment of HIG Capital in Italy made by HIG Europe’s managing director Raffaele Legnani, head of HIG Capital’s in activities in Italy.
This is the second investment in the education sector made by HIG Europe after having bought Austrian St. Gilgen International School (StGIS), a prestigious international school based on the lake Wolfgang closed to Salzburg (download here the press release).
StGIS and ISE will be a base for a new group named International Schools of Europe, an educational platform that will go acquiring other high-end international schools all over the world. For that reason HIG Europe signed a deal with Paolo and Franco Formiga who will retain a stake in the new group and will go on managing the Italian schools. Paolo Formiga is now chairman and ceo of the new group ,International Schools of Europe.
HIG Capital has 13 billion euors of assets under management and just few days ago announced the opening of real estate activities in Italy and appointed Gabriele Magotti as director in HIG’s Milan office. Mr. Magotti joins HIG Capital from Deutsche Bank, where was Head of Southern Europe for the Alternative and Real Assets team (download here the press release).