Reston-based Ellucian to be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners

Firm provides enterprise resource planning software for higher education

Published June 14, 2021 by Richard Foster

Investment firms Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners have reached an agreement to acquire Reston-based higher education software company Ellucian, according to an announcement from the companies released Monday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. New York-based Blackstone and Texas-based Vista Equity are acquiring Ellucian from Texas-based TPG Capital and Los Angeles-based Leonard Green & Partners.

Founded in 1968, Ellucian provides enterprise resource planning software products such as student information systems, data analytics tools and graduation-tracking platforms for more than 2,700 higher education customers in more than 50 countries representing more than 26 million students.

“We are excited to welcome Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners to the Ellucian team at such a pivotal time in higher education,” said Ellucian President and CEO Laura Ipsen in a statement. “Their investment strategy represents a long-horizon commitment to our company with significant new capital to accelerate digital transformation, our open SaaS platform and international growth. On behalf of the team, I’d also like to thank TPG and Leonard Green for their valuable contributions and strategic partnership over the years.”

Eli Nagler, a senior managing director at Blackstone, said, “Digital transformation is one of Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes and Ellucian has proven itself a clear leader in the fast-growing higher-education technology sector. The long-term nature of our partnership with Ellucian will allow us to invest substantially in innovation for its customers.”

Burke Norton, co-head of Vista’s Perennial Fund and senior managing director, added, “As a market leader and innovator, Ellucian has a tremendous opportunity to further modernize diverse higher education institutions globally. We look forward to partnering with Ellucian to elevate the higher education experience, while improving outcomes for institutions, instructors and students alike.”

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