Nord Anglia in talks to buy schools rival Nord Anglia, owned by private equity firm Barings Private Equity Asia, is understood to be close to buying its competitor, which is being sold by owner Sovereign Capital. A deal could be announced as soon as this week. Nord Anglia fought off a number of trade and private equity bidders in the auction for WCL, including Carlyle, Investcorp and Providence Equity Partners. The sale will unite Nord Anglia's 14 schools in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, with WCL's nine schools, in the US, Qatar and Spain. London-based WCL was acquired by buy-and-build specialist Sovereign in 2008, which went on to acquire International College Spain as well as set up greenfield sites to expand the business. The company focuses on teaching children and young adults aged 3-19, and student numbers have more than doubled to 4,300 since the initial Sovereign acquisition. As well as its own schools, WCL works in 80 countries through its own primary and elementary curriculum, as well as running schools for children of Shell employees deployed overseas. A spokesman for Sovereign Capital declined to comment.