Hong Kong-based school chain buys Hyd’s Oakridge International school

Oakridge International, a popular private school based in Hyderabad has been bought by Nord Anglia Education, a Hong Kong-based school chain. Nord Anglia has bought five Oakridge International schools, which together have around 7000 students.

According to a report in Times of India, the deal is being estimated at Rs 1,500 crore- Rs 1,600 crore. However, neither of the entities has officially disclosed the financials of the deal.

While two of its campuses are located in Hyderabad in Bachupally and Gachibowli, Oakridge International also has campuses in Visakhapatnam, Mohali and Bengaluru.

Oakridge International is managed by People Combine, an education management and consulting company. As per the TOI report, People Combine was set up nearly 20 years ago by two Indian School of Business (ISB) alumnus Naga Prasad Tummala and Y V Rajasekhar.

As part of the deal, the existing proprietors have exited the school and Oakridge will now be a part of Nord Anglia chain, which has over 60 K-12 schools across 30 countries.

According to a VCCircle report, the deal comes after People Combine started looking to raise funds of up to Rs 1000 crore to expand its presence and to bring down debt.

“While the deal was signed a few weeks ago, the proprietors sent out a communication to the Hyderabad CEOs’ Forum on February 5, 5,” TOI quotes a city industrialist, who is part of this exclusive group as saying.

Nord Anglia is owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Baring Private Equity Asia, which took over Nord Anglia in 2017. The private deal was valued at around $4.3 billion, reports VCCircle. This Hong Kong-based group has over 61,000 students across its schools in Asia, Europe. Middle East and US. This deal with Oakridge International marks the company’s foray into the Indian education market.