CeriFi Completes Acquisition of Keir Education
April 9, 2018
CeriFi, a Leeds Equity Partners portfolio company, today announced the acquisition of Keir Educational Resources (“Keir”), a leading provider of training solutions for financial services professionals seeking to prepare for various financial and insurance certification exams. Founded in 1968, Keir’s products prepare financial services professionals for the Certified Financial Planner (”CFP”), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (”FINRA”) and several property and casualty examinations. Keir represents the third acquisition for the recently formed financial education, training and certification platform, CeriFi, LLC. Terms were not disclosed.
Henrietta Nye, President of Keir, said “I am thrilled that Keir is joining the CeriFi platform. We have built a great business and going to market alongside Dalton Education and Money Education allows us to grow through product leadership and innovation.”
“This transaction brings together three preeminent financial education companies that have collectively trained financial services professionals for over 75 years. I am excited to move forward with our combined team and suite of products as we continue to address the ever-evolving needs of financial institutions and professionals,” said Joe Gillice, President of Dalton Education.
Eric Geveda, Principal of Leeds Equity Partners, said “We believe that CeriFi’s expanded product suite meets a vital need in the financial services industry as firms increasingly seek to differentiate themselves based on their human capital. We look forward to continuing to support the company’s organic and acquisition initiatives.”
Dentons served as legal counsel to Leeds Equity Partners. Stagnaro, Saba & Patterson served as legal counsel to Keir and the Lockhart Group served as financial advisor to Keir.
Leeds Equity Partners is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated exclusively to partnering with management teams in the education, training and information services industries (“the Knowledge Industries”). The firm was founded in 1993 and currently manages over $4 billion of capital across a broad spectrum of companies within the Knowledge Industries. Leeds Equity seeks to leverage its sector-focused expertise and market insights to create long-term value for its partner companies and investors. Learn More
CeriFi is a diversified education, training and certification provider serving professionals across the financial services market. CeriFi’s broad suite of products delivers mission-critical results to individuals and professionals across the accounting, financial analysis, financial crime, financial planning, financial risk management, insurance, legal, securities licensing and tax industries. To date, CeriFi has acquired fourteen highly complementary companies, including Dalton Education, Money Education, Keir Financial Education, Pass Perfect, the CFP assets of LoneStar Financial Education, the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists, Bionic Turtle, CPMI, Fast Forward Academy, Spidell Publishing, MarkMeldrum.com, Solomon Exam Prep, Checkpoint Learning and West LegalEdcenter. Learn More
Dalton Education is a leading provider of CFP education and exam preparation solutions. Dalton’s CFP education course is a 9-month course that satisfies the requirements to sit for the CFP exam and its exam preparation course is a 2-month course that prepares students to take the CFP exam. Dalton provides its high quality CFP education in partnership with leading university partners.
Money Education publishes digital textbooks and several reference workbooks for tax and financial planning with titles such as “Fundamentals of Financial Planning,” “Insurance Planning” and “Income Tax Planning”.
Keir is a leading provider of training solutions for professionals looking to pass financial and insurance certification exams. Founded in 1968, Keir’s textbooks and review courses prepare financial services professionals for the CFP, FINRA and several property and casualty examinations. Learn More
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