Advised by Walter Billet Avocats, Entrepreneur Invest reinvested in School of Arts following the majority LBO orchestrated by Seven2 (formerly Apax Partners), along with the industrial group Finoli.
School of Arts is one of the first private higher education groups specializing in artistic and creative professions. To date, the group’s 8 schools spread over 15 campuses in France and Belgium each year offer nearly 1,400 students a range of diploma courses, mainly 3-year Bachelors and 2-year Masters, preparing them for careers in the live performance, events and visual arts.
School of Arts was formed through successive acquisitions since 2018 and then taken over in November 2022 by Finoli, a French industrial group owned and managed by Grégory Declercq and Pierre Juhen. Supported by Entrepreneur Invest, Finoli structured the School of Arts group with a view to rapid development. School of Arts, headed by Sarah Princen (General Director) and Grégory Declercq (President, representing Finoli), today has around fifty employees.
Under the aegis of Seven2, it intends to double in size in the short term.
Legal advisers on this deal:
Walter Billet Avocats represented Entrepreneur Invest, with Fabien Billet, partner, and Christophe Cussaguet, counsel.
Hogan Lovells supported Seven2, with Stéphane Huten, partner, in corporate, Alexander Premont, partner, in financing, and Ludovic Geneston, partner, in tax.
McDermott Will & Emery, with Grégoire Andrieux and Marie-Muriel Barthelet, partners, in corporate, Antoine Vergnat, partner, in tax, and Dune, with Olivier Hugot, partner, intervened alongside Finoli.
LL Berg assisted the management of School of Arts, with Olivier Abergel and Julien Carrascosa, partners.
Winston & Strawn advised the lender, with partner Adeline Roboam, in financing, and Thomas Pulcini, partner, in tax.