KKR to take edu-tech firm Instructure private for $4.8 billion

(Reuters) - KKR & Co 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 Classroom, Blackboard Learn and Schoology.

Earlier this year, Instructure completed the acquisition of academic credential management platform Parchment for $835 million.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)