Navitas takes stake in three colleges

Navitas will acquire an interest in three colleges offering university pathways to international students in Australia and New Zealand.

The formerly ASX-listed education provider, headed by Scott Jones, has signed an agreement with UK-based Study Group to secure its interests in Taylors College Sydney, Taylors College Auckland and the University of Waikato College.

Further details are not yet available with the deal pending regulatory approval.

Study Group, founded in the UK in the 1990s, is partnered with more than 50 universities. Its local office is based in Sydney.

The group has changed ownership on multiple occasions, with Australia-based CPE Capital (formerly CHAMP Private Equity) acquiring it in 2006. CPE later sold the group to a US-based private equity firm in 2010.

Study Group has previously faced regulatory scrutiny in Australia after its VET services registration with the Australian Skills Quality Authority was cancelled in 2018.

That followed instances of alleged non-compliance, including low qualification completion rates and a failure to determine whether students were suitable prior to enrolling them in courses.

ASQA's decision did not affect the group’s higher-education, English language or foundation programs, which are regulated by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.

The group had also previously operated a Taylors College Perth campus based in Claremont and affiliated with the University of Western Australia. It has sinced closed.

News of today's deal was accompanied by a joint statement describing the sale as ‘consistent with the strategies of both companies’, with Navitas's latest financial report detailing new 10-year partnerships with two UK-based universities and La Trobe University.

Latest financial data for the privately owned outfit shows the company having recovered from a previous loss to report a profit of $54.8 million in FY22, despite a marginal decrease in year-on-year revenue to $770 million.

The group's profitability was largely helped by the $226 million sale of the group’s SAE creative media institute operations in the UK and Europe.