Press release
Ashmore Colombia closes the largest private equity deal in the education sector in Colombia
6 October 2022
Ashmore is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Ashmore Management Company Colombia, has reached an agreement to sell its stake in Redcol Holding S.A.S., the first private school holding in Colombia, to Cognita Schools. The team has enjoyed working with Redcol Holding during the past seven years, helping the company grow organically and through strategic acquisitions to become a market leader, now operating nine schools in Colombia.
Ashmore Colombia consolidated its stake via its first two private equity funds, Fondo de Infraestructura Colombia Ashmore I - FCP and Fondo Ashmore Andino II -FCP, and Ashmore Andean Fund II, LP, which through a series of investments helped to grow three private schools into the current network of nine. Redcol Holding now educates more than 7,300 students in its 12 campuses spread across eight cities, it provides international certificates such as the International Baccalaureate and Cognia accreditation, and it operates the school with the highest SABER1 scores in the country.
This deal represents a strong exit for Ashmore Colombia’s investors, as it is the largest transaction ever made in the education sector in Colombia, and one of the largest for Ashmore Colombia. Ashmore Colombia is proud to have achieved such growth and success as an active shareholder in the company, and to have attracted foreign interest in the business with a global specialised firm such as Cognita Schools. Ashmore Colombia is confident of Redcol´s continued success under the stewardship of Cognita Schools and wishes the business the best for the future.
About Redcol Holding
Redcol Holding is a private schools company founded in 2012 in Colombia, with 9 educational institutions, offering quality education in preschool, elementary school, and high school education.
About Ashmore Colombia
Ashmore Colombia is a private equity manager founded in 2009 with offices in Bogota and Lima, investing across Colombia, Peru and selectively Central America. Ashmore Colombia benefits from one of the largest teams on-the-ground, which has transacted across the region since the 1980s building an extensive network. Ashmore Colombia is part of Ashmore Group plc, a specialist Emerging Markets investment manager.
About Cognita Schools
Founded in 2004, Cognita Schools is a global private schools group that owns and operates schools throughout the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, India and Chile.
1. SABER is the Colombian national mandatory exam for all final year high school students, used by universities to measure a student´s performance.