IDP Education Limited (IEL) - Blackstone circles

IDP Education Limited provides student placement services in Asia, Australasia, and internationally. The company is involved in the placement of international students into education institutions; and provides services, such as digital marketing, events, consultancy and data services, and peer to peer software. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

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IDP Education (IDP) disclosed that it has rejected two unsolicited and non-binding takeover approaches from Blackstone Singapore Pte Ltd, which is part of the global private equity firm Blackstone Inc.  The latest proposal offered $2.50 per share in cash. This followed an earlier $2.30 per share proposal, which was also declined. Including IDP’s FY26 final dividend of 6 cents per share, the offer price is effectively $2.56 per share. This represents a premium of approximately 19% to IDP’s last closing price and is almost 50% higher than where the shares traded immediately after the FY26 results announcement.

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On our numbers, the bid equates to an FY27 price-to-earnings multiple of approximately 13.2x, but this is on depressed earnings. Unsurprisingly, IDP’s Board has unanimously rejected the proposal, stating that it “substantially undervalues IDP and is not in the best interest of shareholders”. The Directors highlighted that it considers the approach highly opportunistic, given the international education sector is facing significant headwinds (we point to policy uncertainty and weaker student visa issuance across key markets), which have temporarily depressed valuations. Further, it does not factor in the upside from IDP’s multi-year transformation program.

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