Munich, 21 December 2017 – As of 20 December 2017, AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE000A0JK2A8) successfully completed the sale of its portfolio company Studienkreis to IK Small Cap I Fund, a fund advised by the pan-European private equity firm IK Investment Partners. The selling price is EUR 71.7 million, with a multiple of capital employed of 11.6x. Studienkreis Group is already the third very successful exit by AURELIUS in 2017.

Significant increase in revenues and profitability after successful realignment by AURELIUS following acquisition in 2013

Since the acquisition of Studienkreis Group from Franz Cornelsen Bildungsgruppe in 2013, AURELIUS established the company as clear No. 2 in the tutoring market with roughly 1,000 locations in the German-speaking countries and roughly 60,000 students. During the time with AURELIUS, more than 140 new locations were opened or acquired from franchise partners; to this end, a seven-digit amount was invested in Studienkreis every year. Furthermore, an innovative, integrated online programme was developed and established. Besides contacting customers through targeted online marketing, tailored tutoring services are offered on the Internet. The programme also features its own Studienkreis app.

On the basis of these measures, revenues increased by over 20 percent and EBITDA more than quintupled under AURELIUS ownership.

Record year allows for a dividend increase to EUR 5 per share

“2017 was a very eventful but primarily also extremely successful year for AURELIUS. We successfully exited several realigned companies and acquired seven new companies”, says Dirk Markus, CEO of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities. “As a result, our shareholders can also benefit from a record dividend. The dividend proposed by the Executive Board provides for a 25 percent increase in the overall dividend per share compared with the prior-year figure from EUR 4.00 to EUR 5.00. Measured in terms of the current return of almost 9 percent, AURELIUS is at the top of the league table in terms of German dividend-bearing shares.”