SEB Scoops up New School

Sistema Educacional Brasileiro (SEB) has acquired Pueri Domus’ schools and editorial units for BRL32.9m in cash and assumed BRL8.6m in debt, representing 6.6x Ebitda, the buyer says. Itau Securities likes the deal, and says an accretive multiple and synergies will result from the union. “This is a very profitable segment with good growth prospects,” say Itau analysts, pointing to roughly 35% Ebitda margins and a still low penetration rate of around 30% among the state of Sao Paulo’s 7.1m private-school students and 5% among the 25m public school students. The shop also believes SEB may make more acquisitions as it still has BRL100m in cash and virtually no competition for K-12 assets.