• Adds to ACE’s sports management, luxury hospitality management, arts and design verticals
• Takes ACE to 30+ campuses and 5,000+ students in France and abroad
• Next step in ACE and Oakley’s buy-and-build strategy

Oakley Capital (‘Oakley’), the pan-European private equity investor, is pleased to announce that portfolio company ACE Education Group (‘ACE’) has acquired EIDM, one of France’s leading Fashion Business & Styling schools.

Based in Paris, the fashion capital of the world, EIDM offers students a range of specialised programmes from Bachelor’s to Master’s, as well as recognised professional diplomas. The school enjoys strong growth, having quadrupled student enrolments over the last three years. EIDM’s unique network of partners and relationships across the industry enables students to pursue successful careers at home and internationally. Today, 85%(1) of EIDM students go on to secure a job in the industry after graduating, and EIDM alumni have worked at premier fashion houses including Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana.

ACE is a diversified higher education group with over 30 campuses in France and abroad and over 5,000 students. The business operates under four brands: AMOS, the leading French sports management business school; ESBS, a sports management school based in Valencia, Spain; ESDAC, a leading French design school group; and CMH, a heritage international luxury hospitality & tourism school.

Oakley reinvested in the business in 2021 alongside Groupe Amaury and ACE’s founder Patrick Touati to benefit from the business’ strong future growth potential, from a rich pipeline of M&A opportunities, as well as from the significant strategic and commercial benefits Amaury can bring as a prominent stakeholder in the French sports industry.

The acquisition of EIDM will enable ACE to further diversify its business and train students in the business of Fashion and Luxury, a major industry in Europe with strong, long-term growth prospects.

ACE Education Group CEO Sylvestre Louis, said: “We are delighted to welcome EIDM to the ACE Education Group. There are many synergies with the other schools in the Group, particularly with our design school, ESDAC. It is also a real opportunity to support the growth of EIDM, which has increased its student population fourfold since 2018.”

Oakley Capital Founder and Managing Partner Peter Dubens said: “We’re pleased to see ACE deliver on its buy-and-build strategy as we further diversify and grow the business to become one of Europe’s leading higher education platforms. We continue to see strong demand for specialised higher education programmes, which ACE provides across its schools and campuses. Luxury & Fashion is an exciting vertical to add and neatly complements its existing specialisations such as arts & design.”

(1) In-house survey from 2018 to 2021