Baring Asia sued by education provider

A lawsuit filed in the Singapore High Court claims that Baring and its unit, Minerva Education Holdings, vetoed deals in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Vietnam. This was done to prevent Global Indian Schools from meeting profit targets, reducing the price Baring Asia would have to pay for a stake in the business.

Global Indian Schools - which owns and manages schools in Singapore, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan - also points to incidents such as delays over lease renewals and is seeking unspecified damages, Bloomberg reported.

Baring Asia in agreed to invest in the company in July 2011 through four tranches of convertible notes, with a view to supporting regional expansion. Minerva, through which Baring was making the investment, subscribed to the first $25 million tranche of the notes in August 2011.

The investment had been subject to Global Indian Schools meeting a 2012 profit target of $9.8 million and giving Minerva at least a 15% annual return on each convertible note. Minerva had the right to cut the conversion price if the target was not met.

Baring Asia controls school operator Nord Anglia Education, which raised $350 million in its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange last month. The PE firm is also part of a consortium that has agreed to buy Chinese online-games developer Giant Interactive Group in a $3 billion take-private deal.

In total, the GP has more than $5 billion of assets under management and has at least 60 investments. It is understood to be targeting $3 billion for its next pan-regional fund, which is due to launch later this year.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• India
• Education
• Baring Private Equity Asia