Bahrain's GFH Capital exits investment

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Manama: GFH Financial Group announced that its 100 per cent owned subsidiary GFH Capital Limited has agreed to sell its 70pc stake in the Dubai-based Philadelphia Private School (PPS), which it acquired in October 2014, to Nashat Sahawaneh, the school’s existing 30pc shareholder.

PPS is a K-12 American curriculum school founded in 2006.

During GFH Capital’s ownership, PPS was accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It is also accredited by AdvanceEd.

The school currently has around 1,500 students, a 20pc increase from the time GFH Capital acquired it.

GFH chief executive Hisham Alrayes said, “We are pleased to announce another successful exit for the group and our investors from our well-performing regional education portfolio, which is built on strong and growing demand in the GCC for international standard education.

“We are delighted with the value we have been able to create both for the school and our investors during the hold period.

“We will continue to work to maximise the performance of our remaining education assets and focus on identifying similar income generating opportunities in defensive sectors for the benefit of our investors and shareholders as we go forward.”

In December last year, GFH achieved another successful exit from its education portfolio with the $150 million acquisition of half of the group’s regional education assets by Inspired, a leading global group of premium schools operating in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Australia.