Ayala, Yuchengco join forces

The Ayala and Yuchengco groups have executed a plan to merge their education businesses, creating an education powerhouse valued at around P15.5 billion.

The Yuchengcos’ iPeople Inc. and the House of Investments Inc. (HI) signed with Ayala Corp. and AC Education Inc. the definitive agreement in connection with the merger of iPeople and AC Education.

Postmerger, publicly listed iPeople will be the surviving entity with HI and AC controlling 51.3 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively.

The merger brings together the seven educational institutions of iPeople and AC Education, which together will offer quality education to students across all income segments, with campuses in Metro Manila, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), the Bicol region and Mindanao.

The merger will include iPeople and its subsidiary, Malayan Education System Inc., which operates as Mapua University, one of the country’s leading engineering and technical universities.

AC Education, for its part, brings to the table University of Nueva Caceres, one of the oldest and largest universities in Bicol; National Teachers College, the country’s pioneer private teachers’ training tertiary education institution; and APEC Schools, the largest chain of private stand-alone high schools in the country. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA