Dubai: Schools in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states continue to generate strong investor attraction, with the GFH Financial Group buying Britus Education. The latter, a K-12 schooling provider, has two educational facilities in the UAE, four in Saudi Arabia and one in Bahrain.
The Britus Education's overall school capacity in these markets adds up to 12,000 students, of which 8,000 are currently enrolled. (In Dubai, Britus owns Sheffield Private School.)
For the Britus deal, Bahrain-headquartered GFH inked the agreement with Saudi Education Fund, which is managed by EFG Hermes.
Britus has a market value of more than $200 million. "This Investment is expected to reflect positively on the group’s financials and increase the returns for the group," said GFH Financial in a statement.
There has already been a handful of big-ticket deals in the local K-12 space, the most notable being the one for GEMS by a consortium led by the global investment firm Brookfield. Also, DFM-listed Taaleem signed up with the British school operator Harrow to bring its brand to the UAE.
"There will be lots more entries and exits in the UAE and Gulf education space," said an analyst. "All you need to do is look at the expanding resident base in these markets and see the investment potential."
New schools are being added across the board, with Abu Dhabi's Aldar Education being another prominent name.
More deals for schools?
There is constant talk about more schools in the pipeline and which would draw in a new set of investors in the UAE or Saudi K-12 space. Analysts talk about the GEMS-Brookfield deal as setting a touchstone for what's possible in education. What this did was convince investors - local, regional and international - that new spaces could be created even in an extremely competitive landscape.
"Investment in the education sector in the UAE remains under-fulfilled - there are plenty of opportunities to monetize in the sector," said an analyst.
"And gain exits via through the capital markets. Education providers in the K-12 sector are gearing up for the IPO pipeline. Investors would do well to capitalize on such high growth sectors."
