The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance has received an investment from AD Education, a portfolio company of Ardian

Institute of Contemporary Music Performance

Founded in 1986, The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) is London’s leading independent higher education provider for the creative arts, supporting more than 1,200 students across a portfolio of performance, production and management courses. Under Chief Executive Officer Paul Kirkham’s stewardship, the university has grown from a small specialist guitar school to one of the UK’s flagship private learning institutes. ICMP is one of only three private UK arts institutes to have been awarded full degree-awarding powers in the last 10 years. Its two state-of-the-art campuses in Central London, paired with an extensive pool of tutors who maintain active careers in the music industry, offer students an unrivaled learning experience.

The Deal

Following a series of unsolicited approaches, Lincoln International was appointed by ICMP’s shareholders to identify value-add partners to enable the next stage of growth.

Ardian-backed higher education group AD Education emerged as the ideal partner to support management in achieving their business goals. Following on from AD’s investment in SAE Europe and online learning provider Oktagone, ICMP will benefit from access to investment, a fast-growing entrepreneurial culture and a broader international footprint.

Our Perspective

Edward Lethbridge, Managing Director and head of Lincoln International’s UK Business Services Group, commented, “ICMP is a brilliant business – a standout provider in the exciting music education market and a major success story in the UK higher education sector. We were delighted to work with ICMP’s talented team to consider a wide array of strategic options which has resulted in this transformational deal.”

 

Connect with a Senior Team Member
We are hugely grateful to the team at Lincoln International who have been instrumental in finding the right partner and the right deal. The advice they have provided throughout has been insightful and knowledgeable, and at all times their extremely capable and supportive team have shown a commitment to achieving the best possible outcome that has gone above and beyond expectations. In simple terms, we couldn’t have done this without them!
Paul Kirkham
Chief Executive at ICMP

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Any information or testimonials contained in this post may not be representative of the experience of other clients and is no guarantee of future performance or success.