Dubai investments lead consortium to buy Dubai college campus

The deal is structured by Dubai-based Al Mal Capital, part of strategy to acquire income-generating assets

Dubai Investments led a consortium of investors to acquire Kent College Dubai campus through its subsidiary Al Mal Capital as part of its focus on building private equity and real estate investment activities. Courtesy: Dubai InvestmentsShow less

Dubai Investments, a Dubai-headquartered investment holding company, led a consortium of investors to acquire Kent College Dubai campus through its subsidiary Al Mal Capital.

The company is an anchor investor in the sale-and-leaseback transaction through which the campus has been leased to the operator on a long-term basis to manage the institution, the company whose shares trade on Dubai Financial Market said in a statement on Saturday. It did not specify the financial details of the transaction, and said the acquisition is in line with Dubai Investments strategy to build a portfolio of income-generating real estate assets, especially in the education sector.

Al Mal Capital, which provides asset management and advisory services, structured the deal along with its co-investment partners.

“This is a landmark transaction. The focus is on building private equity and real estate investment activities in the coming years,” Khalid Bin Kalban, managing director and the chief executive of the Dubai Investments said. “This transaction allows Dubai Investments to build on its institutional presence in the real estate sector,” he noted.

Dubai Investments is the latest company to acquire income generating real estate assets to maintain a healthy cash flow. Some of the alternative investment firms and majority of the UAE developers are pushing to increase their annual recurring revenues to offset the impact of slower economic growth. A number of real estate investment trusts, have also been established in the last few years to the following similar strategies.

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“We are committed to expand our assets under management and execute transactions with committed institutional partners in the income generating real estate space both regionally and internationally,” Naser Nabulsi, vice chairman and chief executive of Al Mal Capital said, adding that Al Mal Capital’s direct investments team is also working to align its investments with that of its clients to deliver yields and long-term capital gains.

Kent College Dubai is a K-12 British curriculum institution with a capacity to accommodate 2,200 students. It started operations in 2016 and is spread over an area of over 560,000 square feet. Kent College Dubai is the first international campus of Kent College Canterbury from UK, a 130 years old education institution.