UK-based international education group British Study Centres has acquired education travel specialists Cactus Worldwide, the company announced on September 16.
This is the third example of vertical integration this summer, following the news that Kaplan acquired ESL and LCI Education formed a partnership with STB in Brazil.
“The expertise, positioning and financial strength of BSC offers Cactus a fitting platform”
Cactus Worldwide is a UK-based business placing clients annually on language training trips in up to 60 countries.
Nick Alexandrou, CEO at BSC, commented, “The acquisition of Cactus supports the BSC strategy to build a global learning experience group by adding foreign language tuition products to our existing portfolio of university pathway, transnational education, sports education, English language training and teacher training products.”
Fay Drewry, managing director of Cactus, added, “We feel the expertise, positioning and financial strength of BSC offers Cactus a fitting platform to continue and accelerate our growth trajectory.”
BSC offers language and teacher training courses to UK-based and overseas clients of all ages. It has eight all-year English language schools across Britain and Ireland, as well as three overseas schools in Algeria, the Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, as well as a teaching partnership in Hong Kong.
British Study Centres was acquired by Michael Tunney in 2016. It then acquired Experience English and added its 4 schools to the British Study Centres portfolio.
Cactus Worldwide offers TEFL and language learning courses in 120 cities globally, including 11 in the UK.
It teams up with local partners to offer immersion courses and deliver blended language training options to more than 160 multinational organisations around the world. In its 20 years of operation it has taught over 150,000 students worldwide.