Strategic report / Sector review: Education
Education portfolio
OCI valuation
IU Group
£106.0m
IU Group
The largest university group in Germany.
IU Group achieved H1 2026 revenues of €289 million and adjusted EBITDA of €98 million. The B2C DACH business has grown +4% year-to-date versus the prior year and now contributes >€300 million in LTM revenues, benefitting from strong organic growth in the Academy upskilling business. Meanwhile, the classic On Campus business delivered double-digit like-for-like intake growth in the first half of the year. IU's continued AI efforts are showing strong traction – its proprietary learning assistant, Syntea, has recently recorded a large uptick in usage numbers as well as improved retention rates, and various other AI use cases are being developed.
K12 Investments
K12 Investments consists of Oakley's investments in Thomas's and Affinitas, which both continue to operate as entirely independent platforms.
For the six-month period to June 2026, Oakley’s K12 Investments delivered revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth of 38% and 80% respectively versus prior year. During the period, the group continued to meaningfully expand its presence across the Americas, acquiring three new schools in California, Texas and São Paulo, as well as increasing its stake in St. Francis College in São Paulo, to a majority position. K12 Investments now owns two of the top seven schools in São Paulo, an attractive market where comparable schools have grown enrolments at c.10% historically. Thomas’s College, the recently opened secondary school in Richmond, London, has also been well received by parents, with 300+ enrolments within its first year of operation.
OCI valuation
K12 Investments
£86.6m
OCI valuation
Bright Stars
£77.0m
Bright Stars
A leading independent group of premium nurseries, providing pre-school childcare.
For FY 2026 (year ended June), Bright Stars achieved strong performance, with revenue and EBITDA growth of 20% and 7% respectively versus the same period last year. Bright Stars has also seen strong growth in international markets, with 18 settings in Ireland consistently achieving market-leading occupancy and revenue growth. During the year, Bright Stars acquired 14 new sites, bringing total nursery acquisitions since Oakley’s initial investment to 99, exceeding the original target.
Sector review covers the 10 largest Oakley Flagship Fund portfolio companies and five largest Oakley Origin Fund portfolio companies across the four sectors, based on look-through fair value, together with all Private Equity Portfolio investments acquired during the period and OCI's Direct Investments.