Chinese investors target schools in the UK
October 8, 2019 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
Chinese investors have snapped up a number of prestigious independent schools in the United Kingdom in recent years. They have swooped in amid rising demand among wealthy Chinese for an English-language education for their children. The investors have also been encouraged by falls in the exchange rate of the British pound. In July, CATS Colleges, part of the Cambridge Education Group, was acquired by Bright Scholar in a deal valued at GBP150 million pounds. Bright Scholar, the largest operator of international and bilingual schools in China, also bought the boarding school Bournemouth Collegiate School in southern England, St. Michael’s School in Wales, and Bosworth Independent College in Northampton.
St. Bees, a 436-year-old independent school in Cumbria, northwest England, was saved by Full Circle Education, a group in Hong Kong, and reopened in September last year. Ipswich High School for Girls in eastern England was sold to Ipswich Education, backed by China’s Wanda Group. In 2015, Achieve Education Group, a Chinese-owned company, bought Chase Grammar School, a boarding establishment in Cannock, a town in the Midlands, and two years later acquired Abbotsholme School in Uttoxeter.
William Vanbergen, founder of BE Education in Shanghai, a leading international education services provider in China, and also Chairman of Wycombe Abbey International Schools Greater China, said: “There are a few companies who believe they are buying a brand that can be scaled to China. However, this needs some careful thought as to how valuable a brand actually is, other than being a name. For example, does it have standard operating procedures and a plan to open and run multiple schools, or related experience?”
Julian Fisher, senior partner at the consultancy Venture Education in Beijing, said: “There is no doubt that Chinese companies want to control, and profit from, this entire ‘pipeline’. Why simply be an agent for a UK school when you can buy it and generate revenue for more than a decade? If managed well, private education is an incredibly stable long-term investment,” Fisher said, as reported by the China Daily.
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