News

We are pleased to announce that on May 31, 2017, funds served by Advantage Partners (“AP Funds”) acquired YARUKI Switch Group Holdings, Co., Ltd. (“Yaruki Switch Group”, “the Company”), an educational services provider.

Yaruki Switch Group operates several private school formats under the guiding principle of helping children find the motivation within themselves to pursue their own path. The formats that Yaruki Switch Group operate include School IE, individual tutoring schools; Kids Duo, childcare service centers that teach English; Child Eye, class rooms that prepare children for elementary school entrance exams; WinBe, English conversation schools that focus on phonics; Kids Duo International, bilingual preschools that aim to create truly bilingual international citizens; and Ninja Nine, sports classrooms that focuses on teaching kids both science and motor skills. All of these formats have established profitable operating platforms and have strong competitive positioning in their sector. School IE in particular has strong market share among Japan’s individual tutoring-focused private schools, and, including franchisees has deployed 1,027 locations across Japan as of February 2017. The Company has also accelerated the deployment of its Kids Duo format beyond its existing 93 locations in response to increasing demand for educational childcare services as a result of recent increases in dual income families. Sales of the entire group, supported by high customer support by both domestic and overseas companies, are approximately 16 billion yen. With 1,317 locations across all its formats, Yaruki Switch Group has a robust operating platform centered on its School IE format and also has high potential for growth at its early education-focused school formats.

The founder and CEO of Yaruki Switch Group, Masao Matsuda, who has grown the Company to its current scale over the last 40 years, has reaffirmed his commitment to the Company by reinvesting and will continue as CEO. AP Funds and Yaruki Switch Group staff believes there is an opportunity to have the Company undergo a “second founding” and will support further development of the Company with the goal of an eventual public listing of shares.

In addition, Link and Motivation Inc., a highly-regarded motivation consulting firm, will also invest in the Company. Link and Motivation is the owner of Link Interac Inc., Japan’s largest private recruiter of native foreign language instructors for primary and secondary schools, and Link Japan Careers, inc., a company specializing in hiring, training, and supporting foreign personnel who want to work in Japan. Going forward, the Link and Motivation Group will support Yaruki Switch Group’s efforts to hire and train talented instructors for its international and bilingual school formats.

AP Funds were attracted to the investment because of the Company’s solid business platform. Post investment, AP Funds will collaborate with Company management to support the development of each school format and to enhance the Company’s management resources.

Details of Yaruki Switch Group

• Company Name
  YARUKI Switch Group Holdings, Co., Ltd.
• Representative
  Masao Matsuda
• Location
  Tokyo, Japan
• Business Description
  Individual tutoring schools, English language conversation schools, early childhood education

Details of Link and Motivation

• Company Name
  Link and Motivation Inc.
• Representative
  Yoshihisa Ozasa
• Location
  Tokyo, Japan
• Business Description
  Consulting that transforms business organizations through motivation engineering

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