Harris Williams & Co. Advises the Learning Experience® on Its Sale to Golden Gate Capital

Harris Williams & Co., a preeminent middle market investment bank focused on the advisory needs of clients worldwide for more than 25 years, announces that it advised The Learning Experience®, a portfolio company of Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Quad Partners (Quad), on its sale to Golden Gate Capital. The Learning Experience® is one of the nation's fastest growing academies of early education. The transaction was led by Brent Spiller and Corey Benjamin of Harris Williams & Co.'s Consumer Group and James O'Malley and Jon Behrendt of the firm's Richmond office.

"We are extremely excited to have represented The Learning Experience in its sale to Golden Gate Capital," said Brent Spiller, a managing director at Harris Williams & Co. "Founder, Chairman and CEO, Richard Weissman, and his team have built one of the fastest-growing franchise platforms in the United States and a leading platform in early education. We believe Golden Gate Capital will be a great partner for The Learning Experience in its next phase of growth."

"The Learning Experience represents another marquee transaction for Harris Williams & Co. and extends our leadership in both the franchising and education sectors," added Corey Benjamin, a director at Harris Williams & Co. "We are delighted to have helped the shareholders realize a great outcome and look forward to watching the company's continued success."

The Learning Experience®, with more than 300 centers operating or under development across 22 states, is one of the nation's fastest-growing Academies of Early Education for children ages six weeks to six years old. With a greater national emphasis on educational development during the most crucial years of a child's growth, The Learning Experience places a prominent focus on programs that advance scholastic preparation. The Learning Experience prepares children academically and socially via innovative scholastic and enrichment programs such as the L.E.A.P.® curriculum, a cutting-edge proprietary approach to learning which has 9 out of 10 of its children entering Kindergarten already reading. To complement the academic curriculum, The Learning Experience utilizes various enrichment programs crucial to advancing learning and overall balance, such as philanthropy, Yippee 4 Yoga™, Music 4 Me®, Movin' N Groovin'®, manners and etiquette, and foreign language.

NVP is a premier multi-stage investment firm managing more than $7.5 billion in capital. Since its inception, the firm has invested in more than 600 companies and partnered with over 140 active companies across its venture and growth equity portfolio. The firm invests in early to late stage companies across a wide range of sectors with a focus on consumer, enterprise and healthcare. NVP offers a deep network of connections, operating experience and a wide range of impactful services to help CEOs and founders scale their businesses. NVP has offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, with subsidiaries in India and Israel.

Founded in 2000, Quad is one of the most active investors in the education industry, driving value-creation with a team of experienced investors and operations. The firm has invested in 25 platform education companies and over 60 add-on acquisitions. Quad is currently investing out of its fourth fund which has $200 million in committed institutional capital.

Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $15 billion of capital under management. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments.

Harris Williams & Co. (www.harriswilliams.com), a subsidiary of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC, is a preeminent middle market investment bank focused on the advisory needs of clients worldwide. The firm has deep industry knowledge, global transaction expertise and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Harris Williams & Co. provides sell-side and acquisition advisory, restructuring advisory, board advisory, private placements and capital markets advisory services.

Harris Williams & Co.'s Consumer Group has completed more than 50 transactions in recent years across a variety of verticals, including branded consumer products; consumer services; food, beverage and agribusiness; and restaurant and retail. For more information on Harris Williams & Co.'s Consumer Group and other recent transactions, visit the Consumer Group's section of the Harris Williams & Co. website.

Investment banking services are provided by Harris Williams LLC, a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC, and Harris Williams & Co. Ltd, which is a private limited company incorporated under English law with its registered office at 5th Floor, 6 St. Andrew Street, London EC4A 3AE, UK, registered with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (registration number 07078852). Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Harris Williams & Co. is a trade name under which Harris Williams LLC and Harris Williams & Co. Ltd conduct business.

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