Professional education provider BPP has agreed a 620p-per-share offer from Apollo Global , the US education investor. The all-cash offer by Apollo Global values BPP’s equity at £303.5m.

In late afternoon trading yesterday, BPP shares were up 50p at 617p, Friday’s closing price was around 567p. However, according to the FT , several shareholders gave only lukewarm approval to the bid – Andy Brough, a fund manager at Schroders who controls 17 per cent of BPP’s stock, said that he was in favour of "any cash offer" and "I would have thought that if someone else comes along with a higher offer then we’d accept that, but I presume this is Apollo’s top offer. People could argue that we’re selling it on the cheap,"

The deal has been approved by the board of BPP and is expected to be completed via a scheme of arrangement, meaning that the plan needs to be approved by 75 per cent of a poll of shareholders.

The companies informed the market of Apollo’s interst at the end of April , which sent BPP shares up 70 per cent over their previous closing price of 365p.

Macfarlanes and Eversheds were instructed on the deal, advising BPP and Apollo respectively and on the finance side Hawkpoint Partners advised BPP, while Credit Suisse advised Apollo UK.

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BPP Makes Rich Pickings