KUALA LUMPUR: State-backed private equity firm Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) had on Tuesday unveiled its consolidated education group -- Ilmu Education Group Bhd (ILMU).
Ekuinas’ education portfolio comprises of tertiary and K-12 education, which is primary and secondary education, has a student count of over 35,000 across 21 campuses.
The Ilmu group - which consists of Unitar International University, Asia Pacific University (APU), Cosmopoint College,Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT) in Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College and Tenby Educare Sdn Bhd.
Collectively, it chalked up RM100mil in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) on pro forma revenue of RM376.7mil for the financial year 2014 (FY14).
"One of the core sectors of Ekuinas investment is in education, which represents about 23% of our investment portfolio to date," said Ekuinas chairman Raja Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda during his opening remarks.
He said that the education sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, with encouraging demand arising from favorable demographic population, rising household income and the increasing enrollment of international students.
"The quest to build ILMU started with out first acquisition in the education sector back in 2010, when we invested in APIIT Education Group," Arshad said.
Ekuinas latest investment in the education sector was in March, when it bought a 70% stake in Tenby - a chain of international and private schools - for RM70mil.
Tenby operates five international and private schools in Setia Eco Park, Ipoh, Penang, Miri and Johor Bahru. Tenby recorded revenue of RM83mil and EBITDA of RM18.9mil in FY14.
In FY14, Ekuinas invested about RM605.8mil and in total, the firm has 33 investments totalling RM3bil since inception in 2009.
Ekuinas has three core sectors, namely education, oil & gas and food and beceverage. It is now looking to expand into the healthcare sector.
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