Brookfield Leads $2B Investment in Dubai's Gems Education

19 Jun, 2024

Brookfield Leads $2B Investment in Dubai's Gems Education

A consortium led by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management is set to invest nearly $2 billion in Gems Education, the UAE’s premier private school operator. The consortium includes Gulf Islamic Investments, Marathon Asset Management, and the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This significant investment marks one of the largest private equity deals in the Gulf region.

The deal will enable CVC Capital Partners to exit the Gems stake it acquired in 2019. Existing minority shareholders, including Khazanah Nasional Berhad, will also exit as part of the transaction. According to a press statement issued on Tuesday, the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Gems Education operates over 60 schools, serving more than 130,000 students across the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Asia, Europe, and North America. Despite challenges such as significant entry barriers and escalating costs in Dubai's competitive private school market, experts like Ashwin Assomull from LEK Consulting believe the UAE remains an attractive market for M&A and greenfield development due to its clear regulatory framework and growing demand for high-quality international K-12 education.

Brookfield's managing partner, Jad Ellawn, highlighted this investment as a milestone for the company and its private equity business in the Middle East, emphasizing their commitment to the region's high growth potential.