Christie & Co attends the I-EDU Education Industry Investment Conference

Joined by industry consultants and market leaders, including World Bank, Frost & Sullivan, BNP Paribas, Deloitte China and listed education firms, the conference aimed to highlight education market trends, alongside the challenges and opportunities Chinese education firms currently face. 

Given that the education model, especially in day nursery sector, is broadly similar across the world and British education curriculums are highly sought after by parents, opportunities, including acquisitions platforms and organic growth prospects across the UK, Europe and Asia are becoming increasingly attractive. We have been approached by, and are currently helping, several school and nursery operators who are keen to expand globally, of which China remains one of top three requested markets.

Joanne Jia, Head of Asia joined a panel discussion moderated by Mr Haipong Zhang, the Founder of I-EDU, and highlighted major trends of the previous year; “Global education mergers and acquisitions throughout 2017 were more active than in 2016 and many investment firms, such as PEs and VCs, consider the education sector one of their main investment strategies. Among these transactions, International Schools and Education Technology are two of the most attractive sectors for investors.”

Chris Day, Global Managing Director further commented, “The global international school market is rising significantly across the Middle East and Asia, particularly in China, India and the UAE. These markets will see the most upside potential and continue to draw investor attention.”