New Delhi, June 24 -- GEMS Education (India), part of the Dubai-based Varkey Group that operates one of the world's largest chain of K-12 private schools, plans to invest up to $30 million (Rs 283 crore) over the next three to five years to expand its schools business in India.
The investment will finance the development and operations of new schools across the country, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The company said it will also float a Category-II alternative investment fund, to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, to acquire K-12 school assets in India. It didn't disclose the size of this fund.
The announcement comes just over a couple of months after VCCircle first reported that the Varkey family was planning to set up a real estate-focussed AIF to acquire K-12 educational infrastructure assets exclusively in India. GEMS Education, led by founder Sunny Varkey, could look to raise as much as Rs 1,000 crore for the private equity-style fund, VCCircle reported at the time.
Separately, a person familiar with GEMS' plans told VCCircle that the initial investment of $30 million could be increased at a later stage although its final size has not yet been determined. The initial corpus is expected to be sufficient to set up 10-12 schools and will be deployed primarily in operations, the person said.
GEMS said it plans to set up more than 30 company-operated schools and create a nationwide network of over 1,000 partner schools. In parallel, GEMS India is exploring collaborations to establish a dedicated School of Education.
The company said it already has a pipeline of 21 GEMS-operated school projects. The first five schools are scheduled to open across Greater Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan. A further 16 campuses are planned over the next two years across eight states, adding to its existing network in Gurugram, Kochi and Lucknow. The company also plans to open schools in other cities, including Ghaziabad, Pune, Coimbatore and Raipur.
GEMS said its network is expected to serve more than 100,000 students and employ up to 10,000 teachers. The schools will offer a range of curricula, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), Cambridge Assessment International Education, and International Baccalaureate (IB).
The Varkey family is entering a market that has attracted some of the world's largest buyout firms. PE giants Blackstone and KKR have both been active in Indian education infrastructure, drawn by the same thesis - that school owners sitting on valuable urban land are increasingly willing to trade property for capital.
Sunny Varkey, whose parents opened a single school in Dubai in 1968, turned the family business into a group of roughly 90 schools with more than 200,000 students, primarily in the UAE. In India, GEMS schools offer the CBSE, IB and Cambridge curricula. The family has a history in Indian education investment, having previously held a stake in Everonn Education.
Francis Joseph, India CEO of GEMS Education, said, "Through a combination of campus development, partnerships, school transformation initiatives and investments in leadership and teacher development, we aim to expand access to high-quality education."
The Varkeys have also hired Murali Krishna V, a veteran real estate and proptech investor, to run the India platform. He previously led investments at Spyre Proptech Venture Fund and has managed private equity portfolios of more than $200 million, with exits that include eyewear retailer Lenskart.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.