Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 15): Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas), a government-linked private equity fund manager, has deferred the initial public offering (IPO) of its education arm, Ilmu Education Group Bhd (Ilmu) until next year due to prevailing market conditions.

"Market conditions may not be most appropriate to go public this year, so we have to evaluate the situation," its chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad told reporters at the launch of Ilmu here today.

"Meanwhile, if there are any interested parties (seeking to buy stake in Ilmu), we are duty bound to explore their interest. We cannot say no to any party interested in a block or via a stake (sale in Ilmu)," he said, adding that Ekuinas' first priority is to offer stock in Ilmu via an IPO.

Ekuinas' investments are in three core sectors namely education, oil and gas and food and beverage (F&B), which are represented by Ilmu, offshore supply vessel (OSV) operator Icon Offshore Bhd and Integrated Food Group (IFG).

Ilmu is an integrated multi brand education provider comprising seven institutions in Malaysia and Sri Lanka, providing end-to-end learning to over 35,000 students across 21 campuses and serving K-12 (primary and secondary) and tertiary markets.

The seven institutions are Asia Pacific University (APU), UNITAR International University (UNITAR), Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College  (KLMUC), Cosmopoint College (Cosmopoint), APIIT Sri Lanka, Tenby Schools and Asia Pacific Schools.

Ekuinas said last year,  Ilmu recorded an industry leading combined pro forma revenue of RM376.7 million with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation in excess of RM100 million.

Earlier in his speech, Ekuinas chairman Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda said one of the core sectors of Ekuinas' investment is education which represents nearly 23% of its investment portfolio to date.

He added that this significant investment is predicated on the immense growth potential of the education industry, driven by higher demand arising from favourable demographic population, rising income of Malaysian households and the increasing enrolment of international students.
 

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