![\"news](\"https:\/\/media.dealstreetasia.com\/uploads\/2023\/02\/apu.jpg?fit=977,551\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Rise Fund<\/a>, the global impact investing platform of private equity giant TPG Inc, announced that it has led a consortium of investors in acquiring a controlling stake in Malaysia’s Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation<\/a> (APU).<\/p>\n The announcement did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition. However, it is understood that the deal could be worth more than $300 million, DealStreetAsia has learnt.<\/p>\n The consortium, which includes Malaysia’s public service pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) and state pension fund Employees Provident Fund (EPF), acquired the majority stake from Southeast Asia-focused private equity firm KV Asia Capital<\/a>.<\/p>\n KV Asia is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Malaysia and Indonesia. It focuses on investing in mid-sized Southeast Asian companies in sectors including consumer and healthcare.<\/p>\n APU, founded in 1993, is a private university that focuses on technology, innovation, and creativity. Operating from its campuses in Technology Park Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, the university serves a student community of about 13,000 from more than 130 countries.<\/p>\n APU is one of the Malaysian private education assets of Asia Pacific Education Holdings, the post-secondary education group acquired by KV Asia and the education firm’s management team in 2018 from Equity Nation Bhd, the government-linked private equity fund management company.<\/p>\n The university is The Rise Fund’s second education investment in Malaysia, following its signing of a transaction to acquire the International Medical University, announced in June 2022.<\/p>\n In addition, TPG Capital Asia, the firm’s Asia-focused PE platform, earlier invested in K-12 education businesses Sri KDU, Real Schools, and GEMS in Malaysia as part of XCL Education, an education platform across Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n TPG’s other investments in Malaysia include diagnostic service providers Gribbles, Lablink, Clinipath and Quantum – as part of Pathology Asia; Columbia Asia hospitals; heart treatment hospital CVSKL; and PropertyGuru Malaysia, among others.<\/p>\n With the acquisition, APU co-founder and CEO Datuk Parmjit Singh said the university will bring its unique model of education to an increasing number of students across Malaysia and the world.<\/p>\n “TPG has a proven track record in the education segment and social impact investing, and we are delighted to work with them and other new investors,” said Datuk Parmjit Singh, co-founder and CEO of APU.<\/p>\n TPG is a global alternative asset management firm, founded in San Francisco in 1992, with $135 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams around the world. The firm invests across five multi-product platforms — capital, growth, impact, real estate, and market solutions.<\/p>\n