Exclusive-Thoma Bravo explores sale of Instructure, sources say

By Milana Vinn

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is exploring a sale of Instructure, a U.S. education software provider with a market value of $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Thoma Bravo, which holds an 83% stake in the company, has tapped JPMorgan Chase to gauge the interest of potential buyers that include other buyout firms, the sources said.

The sources cautioned no deal is certain and requested anonymity because the matter is confidential.

Thoma Bravo, Instructure and JPMorgan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shares in Instructure, which carried debt of close to $1.2 billion at the end of March, jumped 9% to $22 in afterhours trading in New York on the news.

Based in Salt Lake City, Instructure provides software to schools, colleges and universities. It has over 8,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

The company's flagship learning management system is called Canvas and competes with programs such as Google Classroom, Blackboard Learn and Schoology.

Thoma Bravo took Instructure private in 2020 for $2 billion before returning it to the stock market a year later through an initial public offering. Instructure's shares are still hovering around their $20 IPO price three years later, as a boom the company enjoyed from spending on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic fizzled when competition from rivals intensified.

Earlier this year, Instructure completed the acquisition of academic credential management platform Parchment for $835 million.

PowerSchool Holdings, another educational software vendor with a market value of $4 billion, is also exploring a sale and is in talks with private equity firms.

(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New YorkEditing by Greg Roumeliotis and Cynthia Osterman)