Cognita's €6 Billion Sale Stalls, Casting Uncertainty Over Asia Expansion

The proposed sale of a controlling stake in Cognita Schools has stalled after negotiations between owner Jacobs Holding and potential buyers Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners broke down over price, according to Private Equity Insights. Jacobs Holding had been seeking a valuation of roughly €6 billion, but investors revised their offers downward after the UK government applied a 20 per cent value-added tax to private school fees from January 2026, reducing the multiple they were willing to pay for a platform with substantial UK revenue exposure. Permira and Cinven were also reported to have evaluated the asset before the process slowed.

Cognita operates schools in Southeast Asia, including in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, alongside its larger UK and European network. School-level operations are not directly disrupted by an unresolved ownership process, but capital allocation decisions tend to slow when a group's corporate structure is in flux. Expansion projects, admissions infrastructure upgrades, and new campus feasibility work are among the items that typically pause while ownership questions remain open.

Contrast with Asia-only transactions

The Cognita situation offers a contrast with another major recent transaction in the sector. In February 2026, KKR agreed to acquire a majority stake in XCL Education, the Singapore-based school operator behind XCL World Academy and several campuses in Thailand and Vietnam, in a deal valued at approximately $1.3 billion. KKR outbid Warburg Pincus, Blackstone, and EQT for the stake. That transaction, concentrated on a single-market Asia platform without UK fee exposure, closed without reported difficulty.

The gap between the two outcomes reflects a pattern now emerging in international school private equity. Buyers are willing to pay premium multiples for well-positioned Asia assets with clear local-demand drivers; they are more cautious about globally integrated platforms where UK policy changes can erode a meaningful share of consolidated earnings. For Cognita's Asia schools specifically, the uncertainty centres less on day-to-day quality than on whether the group's investment cycle, including new facilities and curriculum development, will continue at the pace that operators and enrolled families have come to expect.

Jacobs Holding has not confirmed a formal end to the sale process. Analysts expect a revised process will run once the UK VAT's impact on Cognita's reported earnings is fully visible across two or more financial years, giving prospective buyers cleaner data to underwrite a deal. Until that point, the group's ambitions for further Asia expansion remain effectively on hold.