(Reuters) – KKR & Co (NYSE:KKR) will take education software platform Instructure Holdings private for $4.8 billion, the private equity firm said on Thursday.
The buyout heralds a potential resurgence in private equity activity, following a period of dormancy due to elevated interest rates that had hindered debt financing for leveraged buyouts.
The deal for Instructure follows a similar transaction in which Bain Capital agreed to acquire PowerSchool Holdings for $5.6 billion.
KKR’s offer price of $23.60 per share represents a premium of about 16% to the closing price before Reuters reported in May that Thoma Bravo was exploring a sale of Instructure.
Thoma Bravo holds nearly 84% of the company’s outstanding shares, according to LSEG data, and had taken the company private in 2020 for $2 billion.
The private equity firm returned Instructure to the stock market a year later through an initial public offering.
Reuters reported earlier this month that KKR and Francisco Partners were among the companies competing to buy the software firm that offers a learning management system.
The company’s flagship learning management system is called Canvas and competes with programs such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Classroom, Blackboard Learn and Schoology.
Earlier this year, Instructure completed the acquisition of academic credential management platform Parchment for $835 million.
