Navis in PIPE deal for Malaysia's SEGi

The investor purchased 114.8 million shares from Cerahsar, which previously held 23.01% of the company but has now fully exited its shareholding.

Last week 209.6 million shares priced at MYR1.71 apiece were traded in off-market deals. These units represent almost 37.5% of the company's 559.18 million shares, and some claim they were all acquired by Navis.

It is thought that Navis might be able to make a takeover bid for the company, although it is unknown whether the other shareholders - who include Datuk Clement Hii Chii Kok, who owns 32.2%, Datu Putit Matzen, who holds 29.9%, and Datuk Chee Hong Leong, who has 6.78% - would accept such an offer due to SEGi's strong growth over the past two years. Hii is the business' founder and managing director.

Last year SEGi recorded an EBITDA of MYR88.21 million ($28.9 million), compared to MYR54.31 million the previous year.

Other Malaysian education providers to have received private equity investment include the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology and Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation. Malaysian government-backed PE fund manager Ekuiti Nasional (Ekuinas) acquired this education- and real estate-focused asset from Sapura Resources for MYR102 million last year.

According to Ekuinas, Malaysia's private education sector is estimated to be worth MYR7.2 billion, with the segment expanding more than 10% per annum since 2003. It is estimated to reach MYR14 billion by 2015.

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• Topics
• PIPEs
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Education
• Navis Management
• Malaysia
• PIPE