PHINMA Education Holdings Inc. (PEHI) might still go public in the near future even after initial public offering (IPO) plans were temporarily set aside, company president and CEO Chito Salazar said.
An IPO could coincide with the exit of private equity firm KKR, which manages Phoenix Investments II Pte. Ltd.'s shares in PEHI worth P4.5 billion, along with Rise Edu Pte. Ltd., an investment vehicle managed by Kaizenvest III.
"Our agreement... is [that] they will exit after five to seven years. [But] how they exit, whether it be through an IPO or other means, like another investor, is still up in the air," Salazar said on Tuesday.
"So we're also thinking whether we [still] want to IPO," he added, explaining that PEHI may [also] look for a long-term strategic investor. "Right now, there's none. Maybe we'll try to think about it three years from now."
Salazar recalled that they really intended to take the firm public, "but then there was strong interest from private equity firms, so we chose that route."
The KKR group proceeded to acquire all stakes held directly or indirectly by Asian Development Bank, Nederlandse Financiering-Maatschappijvoor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V and Kaizen Private Equity II Pte. Ltd. (Kaizenvest II).
The acquisitions gave KKR a 30.67-percent stake in Phinma Education and three seats to its board of directors.
For school year 2023-2024, PEHI reported an enrollment of 146,000 students, a 17.7-percent increase from the previous school year, with revenues totaling P5.7 billion. Consolidated net income was P1.4 billion, up 31 percent from last year.
PEHI's network of schools, which includes Phinma Araullo University Nueva Ecija, Cagayan de Oro College, University of Pangasinan, University of Iloilo, Southwestern University Phinma Cebu, St. Jude College Manila, Republican College Quezon City, Rizal College of Laguna and Union College of Laguna, has produced 174 board exam topnotchers as of June 2024, with an average 84-percent first-time passing rate in licensure examinations.
Shares of PEHI's parent firm Phinma Corp. on Tuesday were unchanged at P22.50 apiece.