São Paulo, April 9, 2020 —IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is investing up to US$ 112 million (or up BRL 450 million) to support the expansion of Ânima, one of the leading private education groups in Brazil. IFC’s loan will help expand quality and affordable education for more students in Brazil, particularly those from low- and middle-income families located in the Northeast, Southeast and South regions.
IFC’s investment package consists two parts: an up to $64 million loan for IFC’s own account and an up to $48 million loan through the IFC Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP), a platform that allows institutional investors the opportunity to passively participate in IFC’s future loan portfolio. The tenor for both tranches is eight years, including a three-year grace period.
This is IFC’s third investment in Ânima. IFC participated as an anchor investor in Ânima’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2013 and supported the company’s expansion plan with a $40 million long-term loan in 2016. This new IFC’s investment will support Ânima’s program of acquisition, formalization, integration and infrastructure expansion of several universities in the northeast and south of Brazil, including AGES (in Bahia and Sergipe), UNICURITIBA (in Paraná), Unisul (in Santa Catarina), potential further acquisitions, and will help increase liquidity to address potential working capital needs. These acquisitions shall help develop Ânima’s health and law verticals and reach students in new regions.
This investment is aligned with IFC’s top strategic priorities in Brazil. Improving access to quality affordable tertiary education is critical to improve labor productivity, better align skills with market needs, and increase options for employment, which are key elements for the country’s social and economic development. This investment in Ânima will contribute to increase employability and productivity of the workers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. It will also give opportunity for students to receive quality medical education in remote areas of the northeast and the south of Brazil, helping to bridge an important gap in the availability of health care professionals in non-capital cities.
By international standards, a relatively small share of students pursues higher education in Brazil. According to UNESCO, Brazil’s higher education Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) is about 49 percent, which is much lower than that of other countries in Latin America. It is even lower at 38 percent in the Northeast, a region where it is estimated that only circa 10% of the population has a post-secondary degree. In Brazil, the private institutions serve over 8 million students, including learners from middle- and low-income backgrounds, which represents c. 75% of the Brazil’s market while public universities accounts for only 25 percent of total students.
Over the past 18 years, IFC has invested over $2 billion in education projects in 40 countries. IFC plays a counter-cyclical role by providing the necessary long-term financing to sectors that are key for a long-term sustainable development of the country. Since 2009, IFC has already committed $398 million in education projects in Brazil alone.
IFC has been investing in Brazil’s private sector since 1957, addressing the country’s most critical development challenges, including those of urbanization, social inclusion, healthcare, educational services, competitiveness and productivity, and management of natural resources. IFC is the largest multilateral investor in private education in emerging markets.
About Ânima
With the claim 'Transforming Brazil through Education', Ânima is one of the main tertiary educational organizations in the country, with approximately 118,000 students in seven institutions: Una (MG and GO), São Judas University (SP), UniBH (MG), UniSociesc (SC and PR), AGES (BA and SE) and UNICURITIBA (PR). In Santa Catarina, it has a management partnership with Unisul. The Group also includes the Brazilian School of Law (EBRADI), HSM, HSM University, SingularityUBrazil, Inspirali, a subsidiary of the international gastronomy school Le Cordon Bleu, in São Paulo, and the Ânima Institute.
Ânima has been elected one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for over the past five years. In addition, since 2017 it has been one of the 150 Most Innovative Companies in the country, according to the Valor Econômico Innovation Yearbook, and in 2019 it won the Women in Leadership award, in the Education category, an initiative of the NGO Women in Leadership in Latin America (WILL). Still in 2019, Ânima was awarded the prize of best corporate governance, in the area of Education, in Brazil by Época Negócios 360 ° Yearbook.
About IFC
IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities where they are needed most. In fiscal year 2019, we delivered more than $19 billion in long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org .
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