Global announces final stages to close the private placement of 48% of Al Ekhlas International Holding Company

Al-Ekhlas is a new educational-specific holding company established in Kuwait, which mainly focuses on acquiring different educational institutions and running them with the highest professional standards. Currently Al Ekhlas invested in two Schools in Kuwait and One School in Egypt.

Mr. Omar El-Quqa, Executive Vice President at Global Investment House said, that Al-Ekhlas has plans to expand its operations in the region through acquiring different schools with different curricula, in which Al-Ekhlas will offer academic solutions through school and university campus-based and online curriculum instruction.

He added that Global has strong credence in the company's future potentials, its business model and its experienced team and management, and is committing to 20% of the share capital of the company (representing 50 million shares).

Al-Ekhlas has already identified three schools to be under its umbrella; Al Ekhlas Private School (Boys)-Kuwait, Al Ekhlas Private School (Girls)-Kuwait and Cairo International School-Egypt with total student capacity of around 7,500 students.

He mentioned that Al Ekhlas is continuing other deals in its portfolio it is aiming to open a new university in Kuwait in alliance with a Top University from the United Kingdom, as well as a New University City in Egypt- Red Sea with all the necessary resources and facilities.

Mr. El-Quqa said, "We are committed to offering quality academic programs and continuously strive to improve the learning experience for our students in our educational institutions."

The company will acquire Al Ekhlas Private School (Boys) which was established in 1969 and currently enrolls around 1,840 students and will also acquire Al Ekhlas Private School (Girls), incorporated in 2007 that enrolls 3,500 students in its first academic year of operations.

The third school that the company will acquire is the Cairo Educational School in Egypt, to start its full scope operation in September 2010, the school is approved by the Department of Education in Egypt and accredited from CITA affiliated with the American education program compatible with the official educational outcomes with a capacity of 1,500 students.

Mr. El-Quqa added that Global was able to negotiate a very attractive valuation price for the three schools at a discount of 44% on the valuation price performed by a third independent party. The current owners of the 3 schools which will be sold to "Ekhlas" shall also commit to 32% of the share capital of the company (representing 80 million shares).

It is also worth nothing that Al Ekhlas has a target IRR of 25% based on the ambitious business model of the company.

Mr. Omar El-Quqa ended by saying that "We are pleased to have the opportunity to participate in raising the standards of the private education sector in the region and Al-Ekhlas is committed to providing high quality education to students and will retain a singular, uncompromising commitment to communities, parents, students and teachers, to prepare the next generation for the challenges of the future".

"Al-Ekhlas" has the mission to create an educational infrastructure in the region of highest international educational standards which will impart the best of knowledge and skills to every young individual to help them develop and nurture their talents to the fullest extent and to contribute in building a 'knowledge society' that can help meet the goal of Kuwait of creating a non-oil dependant, diversified economy. The educational sector is one of the vital sectors that all countries work on improving its structure. The private education sector in Kuwait had identified several investment opportunities available; where new private schools and universities were established offering well recognized international certificates.

The educational sector is deemed to be one of the economic sectors that have recently experienced an investment activity boost and it is expected to accomplish considerable growth in the near future.