Thomsett Lockey
Market intelligence · Updated 13 September 2026

The deal map.

Intelligence we gather, continuously: 363 verified transactions from 283 acquirers across 35 countries, built only from public sources and checked deal by deal. This public layer shows announced transactions only. It is a map of the market, not a client list. The same approach now reads accounts and public registers for advisory firms: see how we build.

Coverage

One sector, watched worldwide.

The record runs to 363 verified transactions across 35 countries, tracked since 2020. Bright points mark a selection of recent deals; dim points are markets we watch continuously. The live map runs deeper, and is maintained privately.

TransactionsMarkets watched

Arcs trace the flow of capital: cross-border acquisitions from the record.

Date Target Acquirer Sector
Aug 2026CIPHER MEDICAL CONSULTANCY LIMITEDHealth Transportation Group Uk LimitedVocational training
Aug 2026EAS MECHANICAL LIMITEDRealise TrainingVocational training
Aug 2026Oakwood Specialist Colleges LimitedPhoenix Learning & Care Group LimitedVocational training
Jul 2026E.Quality TrainingLeep Holdings LimitedVocational training
Jun 2026Nova Centric LimitedNottingham Trent UniversityVocational training
Jun 2026Mainstream Training LimitedLogikal Group Limited and Navajam Group LimitedVocational training
Jun 2026Remit Group LimitedProject Catalyst Bidco LimitedVocational training
Jun 2026Net NativesEducationDynamicsHE services
Jun 2026Get Set UKPalladium InternationalEmployability
Jun 2026Educational VistasBanyan SoftwareStudent systems
Jun 2026BibliUBlackRockHE services
Jun 2026EnvokeMercia VenturesVocational training

† Our own mandate on the record: Thomsett Lockey acted for the acquirer, buy-side, on Turing College's acquisition of Boom Training (April 2025), its first strategic acquisition and its entry into the UK apprenticeship market. The rows above are the most recent entries on the public layer of a record that runs to 363 transactions.

Pending and in-market situations are never published. The live map runs deeper: who is presently active, what they are paying, and why. For that conversation, talk to us.

The read.

What the record shows

Pace is firm, not frothy. The trailing year holds 193 disclosed deals, running between 7 and 25 a month, and the buying is concentrated: most acquirers appear once, while a handful of serial buyers run programmes.

Two structural patterns explain much of the flow. Staffing and training are converging, with recruiters buying providers and providers buying placement capability. And awarding is vertically integrating with delivery, because regulatory recognition is faster to buy than to build. Both patterns widen the real buyer list for any owner in this sector.

Latest market view - July 2026
163 deals
North America

The largest single region on the record, well ahead of the UK's 98. Europe follows at 46, Asia-Pacific at 26.

Capital across
the value chain

K-12 schools lead at 57 deals, HE services 50, learning content and EdTech infrastructure 44 each, vocational training 41, corporate learning 38.

Serial buyers
set the pace

283 distinct acquirers, but programmes drive volume: the most active name shows twelve deals all-time, six in the trailing year alone.