🠈 Cortiva Institute 🠊
Cortiva Institute
The Spa Industry and Massage Therapy Education appears to be engaged in an period of rapid consolidation.
Cortiva Institute is a chain of Massage Therapy Schools that lists 30 massage Therapy Schools in 13 states.
Cortiva was acquired by its primary competitor Steiner Leisure in 2011 and became part of the Steiner Education division. Steiner Leisure was acquired in 2015 by a huge multi-billion dollar private equity firm called Catterton Partners.
It appears that Catterton is rebranding its massage therapy schools as "Cortiva Institute."
I could not find the history of Cortiva, but here is the history of Steiner.
Steiner Leisure
Steiner Leisure began in England in 1901 by Henry Steiner who sold apothecary products. His son Herman opened a spa in 1937. The company received a Royal Warrant as hairdresser to Queen Mary in 1947.
The company began winning cruise contracts in the 1960s. This included the spa on the QEII.
The company operated 50 salons and spas on cruise ships by 1994. The company went public in 1996 with the ticker STNR after which they acquired Elemis.
In 1999, Steiner began acquiring schools starting with Florida College of Natural Health followed by Baltimore School of Massage and the Virginia School of Massage.
They acquired Mandara Spas in 2001 and began expanding its Elemis chain of spas.
In 2006, Steiner acquired Utah College of Massage Therapy which had 12 campuses in the Mountain West.
They acquired Cortiva in 2011 for $33M. Cortiva had 7 schools with 12 campuses. Steiner had 5 schools with 18 campuses at the time, bringing the total to 30.
The company was acquired by Catterton in 2015. Catterton is a huge private equity firm with a history of buying and spinning off equities. So it is unclear how they will brand different properties.
References:
- Steiner Leisure - About Us (Drawn 12/3/2017)
- Cruise Industry News - Steiner Leisure to Acquire Cotiva (Drawn 12/3/2017)
- Business Wire - Steiner Acquires Utah College (Drawn 12/3/2017)