Wikipedia
Cognita, a subsidiary of Cognita Topco Limited registered in Jersey, is a private company which owns and operates independent schools throughout the United Kingdom, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and Chile and is expanding in Asia and Latin America. Cognita was founded by Chris Woodhead, previously Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England, in 2004. The first Cognita Group school was Quinton House, in Northampton. Based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK, Cognita currently has a portfolio of 67 schools in 7 countries, employs some 4,800 teachers and educates over 30,000 children in a variety schools, including nursery, pre-preparatory, preparatory and senior schools as well as all-through bilingual and international schools.
The company posts losses annually. The total comprehensive loss in 2014 was £37 million growing by 11% in 2015 to a total comprehensive loss of £41 million. Moody's assigned a sub-prime B2 rating to Cognita in 2015 reflecting opening leverage of 7.6x in the year ending August 2015; large planned capital expenditure, mainly financed by the cash on balance sheet but also limiting free cash flow generation in the next two years.; reliance on its academic reputation and brand quality in a highly regulated environment and exposure to changes in the political and legal environment in emerging markets.
In 2014 the company's principal founder, Chris Woodhead, resigned from the company along with four other key directors. In 2015 the company restructured its debts registering a new mortgage charge in favour of U.S. Bank Trustees Limited.