Ellucian to buy UK software company for $210M

Reston-based higher education software company Ellucian has agreed to buy United Kingdom-based Tribal Group, which also provides education services software, in an all-cash deal that values the company at up to $210 million.

The deal was announced Thursday and Ellucian said in a news release that the offer was unanimously recommended by the Tribal board and is pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

The deal will help Ellucian expand its global product capabilities and follows its purchase in April 2022 of Chandler, Arizona-based financial aid software provider CampusLogic. The acquisition will also allow Ellucian to improve its product and support across its geographies and expand its customer base.

“Tribal is in clear alignment with Ellucian’s strategy, purpose and values, and this is an exciting opportunity to expand our combined reach as we power tertiary education so institutions can empower student success,” Ellucian CEO Laura Ipsen said in a statement. “We recognize Tribal’s notable transformation journey to cloud and are eager to work with Tribal’s strong leadership and talented team. With this investment, we can accelerate our impact in large and important educational markets around the world.”

Additional details were not immediately available Monday.

Founded in 1968, Ellucian provides enterprise resource planning software products such as student information systems, data analytics tools and graduation-tracking platforms for more than 2,900 higher education customers in more than 50 countries serving 22 million students. It was acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for an undisclosed amount in September 2021.