KKR, Francisco Partners vying to acquire Instructure, sources say

By Milana Vinn

(Reuters) -Private equity firms KKR and Francisco Partners are competing to acquire Instructure, a U.S. education software provider with a market value of $3.4 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The two buyout firms are through to the final round of bidding for Instructure and are preparing to submit binding offers next week, the sources said.

There is no certainty that private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which holds an 83% stake in Instructure, will agree to sell it, and other bidders could emerge, the sources added, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential.

Instructure, KKR, Francisco Partners and Thoma Bravo declined to comment.

Based in Salt Lake City, Instructure provides software to schools, colleges and universities. It has over 8,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

The company's flagship learning management system is called Canvas and competes with programs such as Google Classroom, Blackboard Learn and Schoology.

Thoma Bravo took Instructure private in 2020 for $2 billion before returning it to the stock market a year later through an initial public offering (IPO).

Instructure's shares are hovering just a little over their $20 IPO price three years later, as a boom the company enjoyed from spending on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic fizzled when competition from rivals intensified.

Earlier this year, Instructure completed the acquisition of academic credential management platform Parchment for $835 million. Reuters reported in May that Thoma Bravo had put Instructure up for sale.

PowerSchool Holdings, another educational software vendor, agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Bain Capital last month for $5.6 billion.

The deal price was equivalent to 7 times PowerSchool's projected 12-month revenue, within the 7-11 times multiple range across recent deals in the sector, according to Jefferies analysts. Instructure currently trades at 6 times 12-month projected revenue, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Sonali Paul)