University of Southern Queensland

Universities are not traditionally a hot bed for M&A.

But when the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) decided to acquire the University of Queensland’s Ipswich campus it turned to ansarada based on the university’s external counsel’s recommendation.

David Cosgrave, USQ’s director of legal services, was part of the joint University of Queensland and USQ management group that supervised the three and a half month long M&A due diligence process on the 25 hectare, 30 building campus in Ipswich, Queensland.

“The Ansarada experience was ideal for university managers with little experience of due diligence or M&A activity as it was user friendly,” says Mr Cosgrave, a lawyer with a background in private equity and investment banking in Australia and Asia. “That is a significant achievement for those who design data rooms at Ansarada.”

USQ’s acquisition of the Ipswich campus was the second such acquisition between Australian universities, according to Mr Cosgrave.

“As Australian universities specialize and differentiate themselves I think that you will see more of these transactions,” he says.

David Cosgrave, University of Southern Queensland

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.