We have written about why private equity is buying Indian school chains, how those deals are structured, how private equity works with non-profit schools and what an institution is worth. This piece covers the other end of the cycle: how investors get out, and what the last twelve months did and did not prove. Data are current to 7 October 2026, and most deal figures are press reports, which we flag each time.
What the Last 12 Months Did and Did Not Prove
PhysicsWallah. The shares listed on NSE on 18 November 2025 at Rs 145 against an issue price of Rs 109, a premium of about 33% (Business Standard). The offer was a fresh issue of up to Rs 3,100 crore plus an offer for sale (OFS) of up to Rs 380 crore. The offer document names only the two founders as selling shareholders, up to Rs 190 crore each (J.P. Morgan abridged prospectus). The OFS was therefore about 10.9% of the Rs 3,480 crore issue (derived). It was not a fund sell-down on the offer-document evidence.
Elevate Campuses. Elevate is mainly a student-accommodation platform that also operates 18 schools in India and the UAE (Business Today). Its IPO was not a private equity exit. The Rs 2,100 crore issue was fresh only, with no offer for sale (Morgan Stanley abridged prospectus), and the promoters did not sell and hold 65.58% after the issue (Outlook Money). Rs 1,100 crore, or 52.4% of proceeds, is for buying K-12 entities and campuses from fellow subsidiaries of the promoters, which on that wording is a related-party purchase. The shares were priced at Rs 362 and listed at about Rs 355 on NSE, roughly 1.9% below issue, after 1.79x subscription (5paisa). Our view: Elevate is evidence of an open window for education-adjacent assets, nothing more.
K12 Techno (Orchids). Vitruvian Partners reportedly invested Rs 1,159 crore for nearly 16%, of which Rs 150 crore was primary and the balance bought from existing investors (Venture Intelligence, citing Mint). On this arithmetic, about Rs 1,009 crore was secondary. SaaSRise says the secondary was chiefly from Peak XV, which reportedly made about 12x on a part exit. Its cost and hold period are not disclosed, and neither is whether the figure blends an earlier partial exit (SaaSRise). Business Standard describes the deal differently, as Vitruvian acquiring Peak XV's stake. No return is reported beyond the headline multiple.
Pathways. Business Standard reports that Lighthouse agreed to acquire Pathways School Gurgaon for about Rs 1,500 crore. The article does not say whether the deal has completed, and the seller and return are not reported, so it is not treated here as a documented exit.
Still unproven. Of the three education listings covered here (PhysicsWallah, Elevate and Veranda), none involved a fund selling on the offer documents or listing data cited. Price transparency is thin. One GSI Education analysis says that, of the 121 entries it analyses, exactly one completed acquisition of operating schools discloses both price and EBITDA on party-published evidence. The same article shows Wendel's 2024 purchase of about half of Globeducate reading as 16.7x with IFRS 16 included and 19.4x without, a gap of about 2.7 turns on GSI's figures. Wendel's own release gives c.17x including IFRS 16, on forward (FY25e) EBITDA (Wendel). No EBITDA multiple for an Indian school deal is disclosed in the reports covered in our note on disclosed multiples.
Four Exit Routes, Compared
Business Standard describes the usual fund horizon as five to seven years, with exit through a strategic sale, another financial investor or, potentially, an IPO. The record adds a fourth route, the promoter buy-back.
| Route | Documented examples (as reported) | What buyers pay for | What can go wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary sale to a financial investor | K12 Techno and Vitruvian, Jul 2026: reported Rs 1,159 crore for about 16%, of which Rs 150 crore was primary (Venture Intelligence). Peak XV partial exit, Sep 2023 (AVCJ). | Scale: 113 institutes in 17 cities, per Venture Intelligence. EY's Salome Agarwal, quoted by Business Standard, names management teams, learning outcomes and profitable scaling as investor criteria. | Figures are single-source reports. FY25 net loss of about Rs 58 crore (Venture Intelligence). Basis of the reported 12x is unclear. |
| Strategic or PE-to-PE sale | KKR bought about 90% of EuroKids for Rs 1,400 crore, Aug 2019 (Business Standard). Gaja reportedly made about 6x over about six years (AVCJ). | A platform buyer adding schools. | Sources differ on the EuroKids date, stake and price (The Ken). Lighthouse/Pathways is reported, but the seller is not, so it is not counted as an exit. |
| IPO | PhysicsWallah, Nov 2025: founders' offer for sale only. Elevate, Sep 2026: fresh issue only. Veranda, Mar 2022: Rs 200 crore fresh issue, listed 8.76% below issue (Finology). | Listed investors pay for growth and disclosure. | Listing discounts. Elevate's non-institutional portion was subscribed 0.84x. None of the three education listings covered here involved a fund selling. |
| Promoter buy-back | Fairwinds sold a "large minority stake" in Pathways back to the promoters, 12 Apr 2016, no value disclosed (DC Advisory). Manipal, 2013: IDFC PE and Capital International (combined 12%, invested 2006) bought out with about $260m of debt raised by the group; IDFC PE reported more than 2x over seven years (AVCJ). NSR sold 28% of Varsity back for Rs 1,100 crore, reported as 3x (Venture Intelligence). | Control returning to the promoter family. | Needs promoter liquidity: Manipal's was debt-funded by the group. The Varsity exit date is not verified. Each is a single-source report. |
The reported multiples are not comparable: IDFC PE's more than 2x at Manipal over seven years, Varsity about 3x on a reported Rs 350 crore invested (1,100 / 350 = 3.1x, our arithmetic), EuroKids about 6x over about six years, and K12 Techno about 12x with no cost or hold period. They use different bases, and each rests on one source.
Our view: choose the route from the asset, then run a second route as a hedge. A scaled platform with a services company and several years of audited numbers can credibly approach financial investors and, later, public markets. A single-campus or trust-run asset is more likely to end in a strategic sale or a promoter-led transaction. Treat an IPO as an option to keep open, not as the plan.
What the IPO Data Say, and Do Not Say
- The window is open but selective. PhysicsWallah was subscribed 1.92x overall, with qualified institutions at 2.7x. Elevate was subscribed 1.79x, with qualified institutions at 2.52x, non-institutional investors at 0.84x and retail at 1.01x.
- Aftermarket outcomes vary. PhysicsWallah traded at about Rs 126.49 intraday on 17 August 2026, below its Rs 145 listing price (Outlook Business). Broker pages put the 6 October 2026 close at Rs 131.86 (Upstox; Business Today), while a third page shows Rs 131.40 (Anand Rathi). These are aggregator pages, not the exchange close. Either figure is about 21% above the Rs 109 issue price (20.6% to 21.0%, derived).
- The accounting basis matters. For Q1 FY27, PhysicsWallah reported consolidated revenue from operations of about Rs 1,054 crore. Management gave EBITDA as Rs 52 crore on the Ind AS basis and negative Rs 44 crore pre-Ind AS (NSE transcript; YourStory). A buyer will ask which one you are quoting.
- They do not say funds can list out. Across India, PE-VC investment fell about 17% to $36bn in 2025 (no exit data given) (Tribune, on the Bain report). Fresh issues have been 35-40% of IPO funds raised since 2021 (Business Standard), so offers for sale, by any kind of seller, made up the larger share across the market. PhysicsWallah's OFS was 10.9% of its issue and Elevate's was nil. Our view: education IPOs so far have been capital raises, not exits. This rests on two issues, and lock-in terms are not covered here.
Exit Readiness: What Buyers Will Test
These points are our recommendations. Legal questions are for qualified legal counsel, and we do not give legal or tax opinions.
- Fix title and affiliation first. Confirm land title, current approvals and board affiliation, and clear any pending compliance issue. Ask counsel what approvals a change of control needs from the affiliating board. For land, see why institutional land is a distinct asset class.
- Document the structure. Know which entity you are selling, and keep the trust, society or company papers and every inter-entity contract current. Ask counsel whether fee and rent flows between them are defensible.
- Normalise EBITDA and state the basis. Show Ind AS 116 and pre-Ind AS figures side by side, strip out promoter pay and one-offs, and document each adjustment.
- Clean up related-party arrangements before a buyer finds them. Elevate's offer document shows how visible related-party transfers become once a company is listed. Rents, loans, shared staff and brand fees should be on documented commercial terms.
- Quantify fee-regulation exposure. Business Standard says "fee hike remains subject to competition and, in many states, government regulation". A Supreme Court order of 17 September 2026 in Ayesha Jain v. Amity University, which appears to be interim, says "no private university shall be allowed to be run as a profit-making institution" (order). It concerns private universities, so any link to schools or colleges is an analogy; whether it touches your asset is a question for counsel.
- Reduce key-person dependence. The Ken reported in April 2026 that K12 Techno targets schools that are 40-50 years old, or have an ageing patron or a succession crisis. If a founder is the brand, plan the handover and retention terms before launch.
Our View: What to Do 24 to 36 Months Out
- Promoters: start 36 to 24 months before the target date. Settle structure, title and affiliation, move to two to three clean audited years, and name a successor for any founder-dependent role.
- Investors: write the exit route into the entry documents. Agree who can sell, who has a right to follow, and what the promoter must keep clean.
- Timeline: at 24 to 18 months, normalise EBITDA and close related-party gaps. At 18 to 12 months, run a vendor-side review and build the data room. In the last 12 months, map buyers and run the process. We recommend the same preparation for all four routes.
- Process: expect negotiated, not screen-based, prices, as public price data are thin.
Planning a sale or an investor exit?
MAS Advisory is partner-led, start to finish. Legal questions on structure and approvals go to qualified legal counsel.
General guidance only. Deal figures are drawn from public sources, many of them press reports, and may change; figures marked derived are our own arithmetic from those sources. Nothing here is legal, tax or investment advice.