German Equity Partners V, a private equity fund managed by the independent German investment company ECM Equity Capital Management GmbH (‘ECM’), has acquired a majority stake in Ludwigsburg-based ACADEMY Group, the leading provider of invoicing, factoring, driving instructor training and franchise services in the German driving school market. GEP V acquired the shares from a long-standing private investor.
As a leading specialist in invoicing services and factoring for driving schools with an annual factoring volume of approx. 170 million EUR, DATAPART Factoring GmbH forms the core of the ACADEMY Group. Around this offering, the Group has established a number of other services along the value chain of driving schools. The subsidiary DVPi operates facilities for driving instructor training in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg. In addition, under the umbrella brand ACADEMY, the Group operates the largest franchise system for driving schools in Germany at more than 300 locations.
CODEX Partners provided the commercial due diligence of the ACADEMY Group for ECM.
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