The Phinma group has debuted into populous Indonesia’s education space with a deal to acquire a controlling stake in a company that will manage tertiary educational institutions for Yayasan Triputra Persada Horizon Education.
Phinma Education Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of conglomerate Phinma Corp., recently signed a joint venture agreement with Indonesian group Tripersada Global Manajemen to form PT Ind Phil Management (IPM).
IPM will manage tertiary institutions for Yayasan Triputra Persada, the first of which is in West Java, Indonesia, the company disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.
Phinma Education will acquire shares of IPM worth 74.45 billion Indonesian rupiah (equivalent to about P278 million), or 66 percent of the joint venture company, the disclosure stated.
“This investment represents Phinma Education’s entry into Indonesia as part of its regional strategy. Indonesia, with a population of over 260 million, provides the company with a new market to serve, and a new source of income,” the company said in the disclosure.
“This entry into the Southeast Asian market will strengthen Phinma Education’s position in the education industry,” it added.
Phinma Education committed to remit 35 billion Indonesian rupiah (about P130 million) this February to meet the initial capitalization requirement of the joint venture company.
The Phinma group has been planning to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia’s education space. In Myanmar, it earlier established Phinma Training Center in Yangon in partnership with Victoria Hospital, one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in Myanmar’s biggest city. This venture started offering short nursing and health care programs for nursing assistants in 2017.
Apart from Myanmar and Indonesia, Phinma also earlier expressed “strong interest” in investing in Vietnam.
The group’s local education portfolio includes Araullo University, Cagayan de Oro College, University of Pangasinan, University of Iloilo, Southwestern University and its latest and the first Metro Manila-based acquisition, St. Jude College.