Hong Kong-based school chain Nord Anglia Education Inc. has
entered India by acquiring People Combine Education India Initiatives Ltd's (Promoted by Tummala Naga Prasad and Yarlagadda Venkata Rajasekhar Babu) schools under the Oakridge International brand.
Nord Anglia, owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
(CPPIB) and Baring Private Equity Asia, has acquired five Oakbridge K-12
schools for kindergarten to grade 12 students.
The five schools are located in Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam,
Bengaluru and Mohali, and have a total of 7,000 students, People Combine said
in a statement.
The deal will allow Oakbridge International schools to
expand their offering, People Combine group chairman Tummala Naga Prasad said.
The companies did not disclose financial details but a
person familiar with the transaction said that the deal size is likely to be
around $200 million (Rs 1,400 crore).
The deal comes less than a year after VCCircle reported in
May 2018 that People Combine had kicked off efforts to raise Rs 800-1,000 crore
in order to pare debt.
DCS Advisory was the adviser to the transaction with Nord
Anglia.
Hyderabad-based People Combine was founded about two decades
ago. Apart from the K-12 schools, it also runs playschools and has investment
in education-technology businesses.
Nord Anglia is present across eight countries in the
Americas, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In 2017, CPPIB and
Baring Private Equity Asia took the education chain private in a deal that was
valued at nearly $4.3 billion.
The deal ranks among the largest in the K-12 segment in
India.
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