The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform of private equity giant TPG Inc, announced that it has led a consortium of investors in acquiring a controlling stake in Malaysia’s Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU).
The announcement did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition. However, it is understood that the deal could be worth more than $300 million, DealStreetAsia has learnt.
The consortium, which includes Malaysia’s public service pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) and state pension fund Employees Provident Fund (EPF), acquired the majority stake from Southeast Asia-focused private equity firm KV Asia Capital.
KV Asia is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Malaysia and Indonesia. It focuses on investing in mid-sized Southeast Asian companies in sectors including consumer and healthcare.
APU, founded in 1993, is a private university that focuses on technology, innovation, and creativity. Operating from its campuses in Technology Park Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, the university serves a student community of about 13,000 from more than 130 countries.
APU is one of the Malaysian private education assets of Asia Pacific Education Holdings, the post-secondary education group acquired by KV Asia and the education firm’s management team in 2018 from Equity Nation Bhd, the government-linked private equity fund management company.
The university is The Rise Fund’s second education investment in Malaysia, following its signing of a transaction to acquire the International Medical University, announced in June 2022.
In addition, TPG Capital Asia, the firm’s Asia-focused PE platform, earlier invested in K-12 education businesses Sri KDU, Real Schools, and GEMS in Malaysia as part of XCL Education, an education platform across Southeast Asia.
TPG’s other investments in Malaysia include diagnostic service providers Gribbles, Lablink, Clinipath and Quantum – as part of Pathology Asia; Columbia Asia hospitals; heart treatment hospital CVSKL; and PropertyGuru Malaysia, among others.
With the acquisition, APU co-founder and CEO Datuk Parmjit Singh said the university will bring its unique model of education to an increasing number of students across Malaysia and the world.
“TPG has a proven track record in the education segment and social impact investing, and we are delighted to work with them and other new investors,” said Datuk Parmjit Singh, co-founder and CEO of APU.
TPG is a global alternative asset management firm, founded in San Francisco in 1992, with $135 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams around the world. The firm invests across five multi-product platforms — capital, growth, impact, real estate, and market solutions.
TPG raised $30 billion last year, of which $3.6 billion was in Q4 2022. The fresh capital raised in 2022 included $8.9 billion in its TPG IX vehicle, $3.4 billion in Asia VIII, and also $6.8 billion in TREP IV, which is part of TPG Real Estate Partners.