Marriott & Co. Serves as Exclusive Financial Advisor to Winsor Learning, Inc.
Richmond, Va. — Marriott & Co., a premier middle market investment banking firm based in Richmond, VA, is pleased to announce that it served as the exclusive financial advisor to Winsor Learning, Inc. (“Winsor” or the “Company”) in its sale to Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the United States serving 15 million students in more than half the districts nationwide. Imagine Learning works in partnership with investment firms Silver Lake and Onex. The transaction closed on January 31, 2023. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1997, Winsor offers a portfolio of products and services focused on literacy intervention for dyslexic and at-risk students using the Orton-Gillingham approach, as well as a supplemental whole-class literacy curriculum for grades K-5. Winsor’s innovative Sonday System® is a comprehensive line of structured literacy materials that enable multi-sensory reading instruction for Pre-K–12 students and is available to approximately 4,000 school districts in all 50 states. Winsor is headquartered in Bloomington, MN and has an additional office in Grand Rapids, MI.
“The Marriott & Co. team did a phenomenal job of leading us through the process of selling our company,” said Tom Guyer, owner of Winsor, “It was extremely important that we identified a buyer that understands our unique position in the education market. With Marriott & Co.’s guidance, I believe we have found the perfect partner in Imagine Learning. This is a great outcome for our team, our customers, and most importantly, the students that Winsor serves across the country.”
Added Amanda Burnette, CEO of Winsor, “I am very excited about this new partnership with Imagine Learning. Their expertise in the education market and vast resources will accelerate Winsor’s commitment to serve more students all across the country. I am grateful to the Marriott & Co. team for their hands-on professional guidance throughout this process that led to such a terrific result.”
Bryan Burden, Managing Director of Marriott & Co. said, “Our entire firm is honored to have helped Winsor Learning on this momentous transaction. Winsor is a company with a proud history spanning multiple decades of helping kids learn to read across the U.S., which is so important now more than ever. We are pleased to have played a role in making this transaction a success for all parties.”
“We thoroughly enjoyed working with Tom, Amanda and the entire Winsor team,” said Justin Marriott, Managing Director of Marriott & Co., “We are grateful that they entrusted us to advise them on such an important transaction, and we wish the Winsor team much continued success in their new partnership with Imagine Learning.”
About Winsor Learning:
Winsor Learning provides Orton-Gillingham based Sonday System® programs and training. Educational experts at industry-leading organizations, such as the National Center for Learning Disabilities and the International Dyslexia Association, have evaluated the Sonday System and determined that the program contains the required elements for teaching reading identified by the National Reading Panel. Winsor Learning believes in giving children their best chance to succeed in school. We’ve partnered with one of the country’s foremost experts in the Orton-Gillingham multisensory method for reading intervention to create the Sonday System: a simple, cost-effective tool for K-12 educators to identify and quickly intervene with struggling readers. For more information, please visit www.winsorlearning.com.
About Imagine Learning:
Imagine Learning is a PreK–12 digital learning solutions company that ignites learning breakthroughs by designing forward-thinking solutions at the intersection of people, curricula, and technology to drive student growth. Imagine Learning serves more than 15 million students and partners with more than half the school districts nationwide. Imagine Learning’s flagship products include Imagine Edgenuity®, online courseware and virtual school services solutions; supplemental and intervention solutions for literacy, language, mathematics, robotics, and coding; and high-quality, digital-first core curriculum, including Illustrative Mathematics®, EL Education®, and Odell Education®—all on the Imagine Learning Classroom—and Twig Science®. Read more about Imagine Learning’s digital solutions at www.imaginelearning.com.
About Marriott & Co.:
Headquartered in Richmond, VA, Marriott & Co. (www.marriott-co.com) is a premier, independent boutique investment banking firm focused on advising privately-held companies across a wide variety of industries. The firm provides merger and acquisition advisory and capital raising services primarily to family-held businesses and entrepreneurial business owners in the middle market. Marriott & Co.’s unique entrepreneurial culture enables the firm to tailor its services to meet the needs of its clients, and the firm’s professionals have an unparalleled understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these companies and their owners today. By delivering senior banker attention, a high-touch approach to client service and best-in-class process execution to every assignment it undertakes, Marriott & Co. has established a long track record of closing successful transactions for clients all over the U.S.
Contact: Justin Marriott
Phone: (804) 344-0952
justin@marriott-co.com
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