The College of Court Reporting Acquired by a Strategic Investor
Transaction Description
The College of Court Reporting, the oldest and most recognized degree-granting court reporting college, was acquired by a strategic investor who owns and operates several other Title IV vocational colleges.
Transaction Details
A Strategic Investor
Stratford, CT
Acquired
The College of Court Reporting
Valparaiso, IN
Jackim Woods & Co advised the seller and arranged the transaction.
Transaction Overview
The College of Court Reporting is a very successful, nationally accredited, degree granting college that was founded by Kate Moody 40 years ago, and has been managed by her son, Jeff Moody for over 20 years. The school evolved over time from an in-person, ground-based training program to one of the first fully online degree-granting college of court reporting in the country.
Jeff was instrumental in leading that effort and in developing the software and training tools necessary to teach a skills-based program online. The school has a spotless regulatory record, and is very well run with outstanding educational outcomes for its students, making it an attractive candidate for buyers.
Challenges
As a second generation family owned business, our challenge was to find a buyer that would preserve, protect, and grow the Moody family legacy, while also paying the Moody’s full value for the business they had built over the last 40 years.
The for-profit higher education industry is highly regulated, and those regulations make it unattractive to many traditional buyers like private equity groups. So, when selling any career college, finding the right buyer is the key to a successful sale that meets the seller’s objectives.
As a result, we knew going into this project, that the ideal buyer would be someone who is already in the higher education sector and understands how to navigate the regulations.
Solutions
That’s where Jackim Woods extensive knowledge of the for-profit higher education sector, and our deep connections with school owners was invaluable.
We worked with the Moody family for almost 2 years to prepare a set of professional marketing materials, including a professional offering memorandum, a detailed valuation model, and a complete virtual online data room.
We then reached out to our network of school owners to make them aware of the opportunity. We stayed in regular contact with them to update them on our process and the school’s financial performance.
Summary
In the end, after speaking with over 60 potential buyers, we received multiple offers for the school, but the Moody family quickly narrowed in on the offer submitted by a strategic investor who owns and operates two other vocational schools. He had the ideal background, vision, and the operational resources to grow the College of Court Reporting it into something even more special for the school’s students and employees, as the court reporting field continues to evolve over the next decade.
The new owner has several exciting ideas for the school, so stay tuned.
