The prominent global investment firm, KKR, has signed into a definitive contract to buy Instructure Holdings, a learning ecosystem, for $23.60 per share in an all-cash deal with an enterprise value of over $4.8bn.

The per-share purchase price reflects a 16% premium over Instructure's unmodified share price of $20.27 on 17 May 2024, the last trading day before media news of a potential purchase.

KKR, with Dragoneer Investment Group's participation, will pay for all remaining shares, including those held by Instructure's current majority owner, Thoma Bravo, a premier software investment firm that went public in 2021.

Steve Daly, the CEO of Instructure, and the rest of the executive team will keep their current positions of leadership.

KKR will back Instructure as it makes more investments in technology and innovation for its flagship Canvas and Parchment products, as well as for its global learning platform.

Instructure is a global provider of learning management, educational technology effectiveness, and credentialing solutions. The Instructure ecosystem of products improves the routines and outcomes of students, professionals, and educators.

With a growing community of over 1,000 partners, the firm has reached roughly 200 million learners in more than 100 countries. The organisation, along with its extensive network of educators, learners, and partners, is committed to expanding its platform and generating $1bn in revenue by 2028.

KKR is investing in Instructure through its North America Fund XIII.

Moreover, KKR will assist Instructure in developing a broad-based equity ownership programme so that, following the closing of the deal, every one of the 1,700 workers of the company will have the chance to further benefit from ownership.

This approach is predicated on the idea that empowering team members to take ownership of their work is a critical component of strengthening businesses. Over 100,000 non-senior management staff have received billions of dollars in total stock value from more than 50 KKR portfolio businesses since 2011.

Daly stated: “Our leadership team laid out an aggressive go-forward strategy in our investor day presentation earlier this year. We believe Instructure has a significant growth runway as we focus on core markets, unlocking new opportunities and continuing to build the Instructure Learning Ecosystem. It was immediately apparent that KKR is aligned with our long-term vision and growth strategy, and we look forward to working closely with them. Together, we’ll expect to build on our position as the education platform that powers learning for a lifetime and turns education into opportunities for all learners globally.”