Gordons Advises Growth Capital Investor BGF on Operam Education Group’s Acquisition of Recruitment Firm

Gordons has advised growth capital investor BGF on supporting education recruitment specialist Operam Education Group with its acquisition of Bridge Education.

BGF is the UK and Ireland’s most active and dynamic investor of equity capital in growing companies, backing entrepreneurs and innovators.

Founded in 2014, Bridge Education has relationships with both schools and candidates across Lancashire and the surrounding regions.

Gordons’ partner and head of banking, Ben Roden, and corporate partner, Amy Pierechod, advised BGF on the transaction.

BGF investor, Rob Johnson, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Operam’s latest acquisition – the fifth since BGF first invested in the business in 2019 – and look forward to welcoming Bridge Education into the Operam family.

“Having worked closely with Operam over the past four years, it is great to see the business continue to successfully execute against the original plan we backed and, with a strong pipeline of acquisition targets, established systems and processes and further committed funding from BGF, all the ingredients are there for Operam to continue the buy-and-build journey.”

This latest investment marks the second acquisition made by Operam in the last eight months as the company continues its growth strategy and establishes itself across the Midlands and North of England.

In July 2022, Gordons advised BGF on providing £2.5m to Operam to support its acquisition of West Midlands-based First for Education and an additional £2.5m of equity funding to support future investments.

Gordons head of banking, Ben Roden, commented: “It has been great for the team to help BGF and Operam take another step during this exciting expansion phase.

“Through our work with BGF and Operam to date, we have now streamlined the process in order to allow both parties to act quickly and efficiently on these opportunities and we look forward to the next.”

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