Malaysia - Ekuinas aims to be the biggest player with more acquisitions

PETALING JAYA: Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) plans to create one of Malaysia's largest education entities and is now eyeing a third education group just after completing its acquisition of a 90% stake in Cosmopoint Sdn Bhd for RM246mil.

Among the education groups that Ekuinas is eyeing are Masterskill Education Group Bhd (MEGB) and HELP International Corp Bhd.

MEGB has some 11,000 students as of 2011 while HELP has 13,000 students. If Ekuinas were to acquire either one of these education groups, its student enrolment would increase to almost 30,000 from about 20,000 currently, making it the biggest listed education player.

“Education is one of the target sectors for Ekuinas' investments. Ekuinas is continuously on the lookout for investment opportunities within the sector. Although we have identified possible opportunities, nothing has been confirmed at this point. Any new investments will be announced in due course in line with Ekuinas' full disclosure policy,” Ekuinas chief executive offier Datuk Abdul Rahman said in a reply to StarBiz query via email.

He added that Ekuinas planned to look into further opportunities within the private education industry and establish one of Malaysia's largest education groups that serves education needs across all segments.

Industry observers don't rule out a possible listing of Ekuinas' entire education portfolio in the future, in a similar approach that Khazanah Nasional Bhd is taking with its planned listing of Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Ekuinas acquired the Cosmopoint group which owns and operates KL Metropolitan University College and Cosmopoint International College of Technology, an education group within the Malaysian private education sector with more than 11,000 students across seven faculties.

Cosmopoint's revenue and earnings have grown strongly over the years. For FY10 ended Dec 31, it registered earnings of RM33mil on revenue of RM107mil.

The acquisition of Cosmopoint was in line with Ekuinas' aspiration to transform high potential Malaysian companies into future market leaders as well as help enhance equitable bumiputra participation within the sizeable and rapidly expanding Malaysian private education sector.

Ekuinas' investment portfolio also includes education institutions under APIIT Education Group, namely Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT), Asia Pacific University College of Technology & Innovation, and Sapura Smart School.

The investment in the APIIT Education Group was undertaken in 2010 when Ekuinas acquired 51% from Sapura Resources Bhd for RM102mil.

Arshad said the acquisition of Cosmopoint would complement the existing education institutions under Ekuinas and expand its education portfolio to five institutions with more than 20,000 students and combined revenue of more than RM200mil. With the acquisition, Ekuinas' total committed investments to date amounted to RM903.4mil.

TEE LIN SAY and RISEN JAYASEELAN

The Star

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