Vistria Group LLC and other investors agreed to buy Apollo Education Group Inc. (Nasdaq: APOL) for $1.1 billion in cash and take the education company private.

The buying consortium, which also includes funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management LLC and Najafi Companies, will pay $9.50 for both Class A and Class B shares, Phoenix, Arizona- based Apollo said in a statement on Monday. The price represents a 44 percent premium over the closing price on Jan. 8, the day before Apollo’s board said it was pursuing strategic alternatives, it said. Apollo’s board approved the planned transaction. Apollo Global and Apollo Education were not previously affiliated.

Apollo Education has made a pair of acquisitions recently. In December, the company acquired German education services provider Career Partner GmbH and in 2014, it completed its purchase of Brazilian education program provider Sociedade Técnica Educacional da Lapa SA.

In other education deals, the Carlyle Group LP (Nasdaq: CG) and Vinci Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltda. are buying Kroton Educacional SA and TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners are adding Ellucian Co.

Apollo will continue to “invest in strategic transformation, enhancing student outcomes and career relevant education for working adults,” it said. Tony Miller, Vistria’s chief operating officer and a former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, will become its chairman after the transaction.

Barclays, Credit Suisse and Evercore and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP are advising Apollo Education. Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP is representing the buyer group.

 

-- Additional reporting by Demitri Diakantonis