Compiled by Caijing staff

From Caijing Online

The private equity firm Carlyle Group announced that it plans to invest US$ 50 million into Haoyue Group, a Beijing-based private education service. The venture is part of Carlyle Group’s new effort to shift its assets to sectors that are relatively immune to economic cycles.

Haoyue will use the money to expand its campus, to acquire other private vocational schools over the next three years, and to launch short-term training programs, Carlyle Asia Growth Partners Group (CAGP) said Thursday.

The investment will be Carlyle Group’s second educational venture in China, following the US$ 20 million it put into Shanghai-based New World Education group September 2007.

Wayne Tsou, head of CAGP, said the company was attracted to the resilient nature of the education sector, which has proven its potential to grow even as the rest of the economy languishes.

Other domestic and international private equity and venture capital groups have taken a similar cue as Carlyle Group. They have recently been investing an increasing amount of money into sectors such as education, catering and the mass media in China.

Statistics compiled by ChinaVenture, an investment consulting firm, indicated that 25 educational and training firms obtained investment from private equity and venture capital groups from 2000 to 2007, totaling US$ 355.97 million.

The importance of private schools in China’s educational system has been growing by the year. From 2003 to 2005, private universities’ share of the higher education market increased from 4.3 percent to 11 per cent by number of students enrolled.