CI Capital Holding for Financial Investments, announced that it has completed, together with a group of co-investors, the acquisition of a 60% interest in Taaleem for a total consideration of EGP 1.2bn, from Thebes Education Management Holdings BV, an RMBV managed co-investment vehicle, funded by a number of development finance institutions, and global institutional investors.
CI Capital and its co-investors acquired Taaleem through a newly established investment vehicle, “EGY EDU Invest BV,” which is controlled by CI Capital. Out of the EGP 1.2bn consideration, CI Capital committed EGP 305m from its balance sheet, while the remaining balance was injected by a group of regional and local institutions and high net worth individuals, including the StonePine ACE Fund, a joint venture between StonePine Capital Partners and ACE & Company, two leading private equity firms in the Middle East with collective AUMs in excess of $900m. The transaction consideration implies a fiscal year 2018/19 trailing EV to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)1 multiple of approximately 9.4x.
Commenting on the deal, CI Capital’s Chairperson and CEO, Mahmoud Attalla, said, “We are delighted to announce the completion of this landmark acquisition, which cements CI Capital’s position as a leader in bringing to the market innovative transactions for our stakeholders. By sponsoring this deal, we have taken a major step forward in expanding our merchant banking activity, in line with our strategy to diversify our product offering and pursue growth opportunities.”
Director of RMBV, Ahmed Badreldin, said, “In 2015 we partnered with Dr Seddik Afifi, the founder of NUB, in a unique partnership, to provide high quality and accessible education to a growing student body in Egypt. Since our investment, we worked with the management team, led by its CEO Mohamed El-Rashidi, in applying our global experience in the education sector to expand and augment affordable high-quality education for the benefit of students, faculty, and parents, culminating with the launch of the new Faculty of Medicine in 2019.”
Taaleem Chairperson and CEO, Mohamed El-Rashidi, also said, “We would like to welcome CI Capital and its co-investors as new shareholders in Taaleem. We are confident that CI Capital will provide us with full support to accelerate Taaleem’s next wave of growth, further concretising our position as one of the largest institutionally-backed education platforms in Egypt”.
Taaleem controls and operates NUB, the largest private university in Upper Egypt, with more than 5,600 enrolled students. The university’s location in Beni Suef enables students from this highly populous and underserved region to gain access to high quality education and state-of-the-art teaching methods.
In addition to its existing six faculties, NUB recently launched the Faculty of Medicine for the upcoming academic year 2019/20, in partnership with the Medical University of Vienna International, one of the world’s largest and most renowned medical universities, with roots dating back more than 750 years. NUB’s Faculty of Medicine is Upper Egypt’s only private medical faculty and one of only a handful nationwide.
