Amanat acquires 16.02% in an education portfolio through Madaares

18/04/2016 15:16 AST

Amanat Holdings PJSC announced today that it has acquired, through one of its subsidiaries, a 16.02 percent stake in Madaares PrJSC for AED 139.4 million. Through acquiring this stake, Amanat is now among Madaares five largest shareholders.

Founded in 2004, Madaares offers premium education across multiple curricula, including British, American and International Baccalaureate. For the academic year 2014-2015 it operated four nurseries and six schools in the UAE which are rated as “Good” and “Very Good”, as per Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) and ADEC’s Irtiqa’a Inspection. Recently, Madaares further increased its student capacity following the opening of a new school in the third quarter of 2015.

Faisal Bin Juma Belhoul, Chairman of the Board of Amanat, said, “The macroeconomic and socio-demographic environment for K-12 education sector continues to be favorable and we look forward to working alongside the Madaares shareholders to drive growth and deliver value for all stakeholders.”

Madaares’s six schools have a combined student enrolment of over 6,900 and its operations are closely integrated, with the large majority of nursery students progressing to one of the group’s secondary schools.

Khaldoun Haj Hasan, CEO of Amanat, added, “The private K-12 education sector in the UAE is expected to grow annually by nine percent through to 2020 and we at Amanat believe strongly in the long-term prospects of Madaares. As a value added investor, we look to support businesses by working with management to enhance corporate governance, develop a differentiated corporate strategy and identify the most optimal finance structure for the business.”

SHUAA Capital acted as the sole buy-side financial advisor to Amanat Holdings for the acquisition.

CPI Financial