MUMBAI (Mint)--Two education services providers announced acquisitions Tuesday, as companies look to expand in India's booming education sector.
Core Projects and Technologies Ltd., an education solutions provider, has acquired ITN Mark Education Ltd, a U.K.-based provider of teachers and teaching assistants, for $25 million. DMC Education Ltd. acquired Kolkata-based education consulting firm Plansteps for INR450 million ($10 million).
India's education sector is growing at 15%-20% annually among schools, and still faster at 25%-30% in the pre-kindergarten and vocational studies space. It is expected to grow much faster over the next 10 years, said Narayanan Ramaswamy, executive director of education at consulting firm KPMG.
Companies are increasingly looking to raise funds, make acquisitions and forge partnerships to increase in size and scale.
"The question is whether you would want to build up the capabilities on your own or through acquisition," Ramaswamy said. "The kind of returns the sector offers is high. The risk-adjusted returns now look better than before, and hence there is lot of interest from domestic as well as foreign players."
Private-equity companies invested $54 million in local education services providers in 2010. One such deal earlier this year was U.K.-based Pearson PLC increasing its stake in online tutoring firm TutorVista to 76%.
No comments:
Post a Comment