Phinma education unit secures funds for expansion
Private school network operator Phinma Education Holdings Inc. (Pehi) has completed a fundraising that yielded a total of P2.2 billion, which will be used to further expand its portfolio here and overseas.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, the education arm of conglomerate Phinma Corp. received $12.3 million in investment committed by Metro Manila-based multilateral institution Asian Development Bank (ADB).“ADB funds will be used by Pehi to further expand its business in Indonesia,” the disclosure said.
In October last year, Pehi agreed to bring in Kaizen Private Equity II Pte. Ltd., the Netherlands Development Finance Co. (FMO) and ADB as new investors.Pehi closed the investment transaction with Kaizen and FMO after receipt of the P1.25 billion in investment in November last year.
Local investors Emar Corp. and Magdaleno Albarracin Jr. also remitted P325 million in fresh investment.
Phinma Corp., the controlling stockholder of Pehi, which waived its preemptive right to subscribe to the new shares, will remain the majority shareholder. Its ownership will be equivalent to 67.18 percent of Pehi. Pehi is the holding company for Phinma’s investments in educational institutions. It owns Araullo University, Cagayan de Oro College, University of Pangasinan, University of Iloilo, Southwestern University and St. Jude College. It also holds a 50-percent stake in Phinma Saytanar Education Ltd. in Myanmar. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
