Gurgaon-based Educomp Solutions Ltd has decided to invest Rs 150 crore in Chennai-based Great Lakes Institute of Management. The funding will be used to build new campuses in Chennai, Mumbai and the national capital region (NCR).
Educomp provides technology-based educational products and services that support professional development, higher education and vocational training. Founded by Prof. Bala V Balachandran of Kellogg School of Management, Great Lakes is one of the reputed B-schools in the country.
Mumbai-based investment bank Transwarranty Finance Ltd was the sole advisor to the transaction.
“Educomp and Great Lakes have decided to expand and further global management education in India and abroad, with the focus on Indian values,” said Kumar Nayar, managing director of Transwarranty. “We want to bridge the gulf between US and Indian education systems. For instance, we would like to focus on energy management and for that, we would like to bring all kind of education exposure from abroad.”
In the recent past, Educomp opted for quite a few M&A deals in the education space. The company acquired a majority stake in Secunderabad-based Gateforum Educational Services Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Gateforum provides preparatory tools for Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).
Educomp also bought majority stake in New Delhi-based Vidya Mandir Classes Pvt Ltd in 2010, for a price of $7.34 million. Incidentally, Vidya Mandir provides specialised coaching for IIT-JEE, AIEEE, NSIT, DCE and BITS. In the same year, Educomp acquired Gurgaon-based Zaptive Internet Services Pvt Ltd for a price of $1.29 million. Zaptive owns and operates StudyPlaces.com and provides online services.
According to an Ernst & Young report on education, Indian higher education system is one of the largest in the world, in terms of number of institutions and student enrolment. Higher education spends in the country are currently estimated at Rs 46,200 crore and are projected to grow to Rs 1,50,000 crore (approx.) in the next 10 years.