PETALING JAYA: Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) has sold its entire equity interest, together with its minority partners, in APIIT Lanka Pvt Ltd to BG Investments Pte Ltd at an enterprise value of RM41 million.
“Ekuinas’ decision to divest APIIT Lanka is in line with its investment strategy to crystallise its assets when the time is right, as well as finding the right partner for the assets. With BG Investments, we are confident that with their local knowledge, expertise and resources, we see them as the right owners who will be able to take APIIT Lanka through their next growth phase,” Ekuinas CEO Syed Yasir Arafat Syed Abd Kadir said in a statement today.
He said APIIT Lanka has been growing steadily which contributed to one of Ekuinas’ key achievements, which was the opening of a new satellite campus in Kandy, giving APIIT Lanka the platform to scale the business by growing the number of programmes offered and tapping into a new market.
“We are pleased to report that the divestment generated a gross internal rate return of 17.5% and a money multiple of 2.2 times the capital invested. This will bring Ekuinas’ total realisation proceeds to more than RM2.7 billion,” he added.
Established in 2000, private tertiary education provider APIIT Lanka was an international collaboration between Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APIIT) in Malaysia and ExpoLanka Holdings PLC, with links to universities in the UK and Australia.
APIIT Lanka aims to provide higher education of international standards to produce globally competitive graduates who will meet the demands of the modern society. Since its establishment, APIIT Lanka has produced close to 2,000 graduates.
BG Investments is a Sri Lankan-based investor with exposure in industries such as financial services, marine, education and healthcare. The group has identified education as a high potential sector in Sri Lanka and intend to expand their footprint in this sector through the acquisition.
