Khazanah buys minority stake in Dubai's education group GEMS Menasa

Dubai-based GEMS Education said that Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, has acquired a 3% stake in the firm—which is the world’s largest operator of K-12 schools. GEMS Menasa's unit GEMS Menasa Cayman Ltd said the Malaysian strategic investment fund had acquired the stake from the Varkey Group, majority owner of GEMS.

Allen & Overy with a team led by Corporate Partner David Foster advised Varkey Group Limited (VGL). VGL, the umbrella organisation, operates in the education, healthcare and construction sectors. “This transaction is one of a number of recent investments in the education sector in the MENASA region and underlines investor appetite in social infrastructure. We are delighted to have supported VGL on the reinforcement of their relationship with a leading global sovereign wealth fund, and in their continuing journey to deliver high-quality education,” Foster said.

With this deal, Khazanah becomes the second sovereign wealth fund to invest directly in GEMS after Mumtalakat.

“Khazanah has been indirectly invested in GEMS since 2014 and we are delighted that, having watched our progress over the last three and a half years, they have chosen to increase their exposure through this meaningful direct investment,” said GEMS CEO Dino Varkey.

Founded in 1980 by Sunny Vareky, GEMS Education, founded by Suny Vareky in the year 1980, runs over 250 schools in 13 different countries.