Abu Dhabi’s Aldar to invest Dhs1bn in education portfolio

Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties (Aldar) has announced plans to invest Dhs1bn into Aldar Education, its wholly owned subsidiary.

With the added investment, it aims to increase the existing student capacity in Aldar Education’s owned and managed schools to over 40,000 seats by 2024-25 academic year.

To increase student capacity, Aldar Education is looking to do so through a mix of greenfield and school acquisition opportunities in the premium and mid-market segments in Abu Dhabi.

Aldar said that 80 per cent of the investment has already been committed and planned for deployment over the next three years.

At present, Aldar Education, the largest premium school operator in the Abu Dhabi, owns nine schools under Aldar Academies and Cranleigh Abu Dhabi and manages a further 11 schools.

Aldar’s growth plan is focused on enhancing Aldar Education’s offering in three main locations in the emirate: Khalifa City, Saadiyat Island and Yas Island.

نحن سعداء بإعلاننا عن إستثمار مليار درهم في #الدار_التعليم، حيث سيمكننا هذا الاستثمار من تنويع محفظتنا التعليمية في أبوظبي.
We are pleased to announce our plans to invest AED 1 billion into Aldar #education, which will enable Aldar to diversify its education portfolio pic.twitter.com/JA1SZ7Ydmi

— ALDAR (@AldarTweets) February 3, 2022

In Khalifa City, Aldar Education has agreed its first-ever school acquisition with the purchase of Al Shohub Private School, a British curriculum school. Aldar is also expanding and relocating the Al Yasmina Academy in Khalifa City to consolidate its position as an ‘outstanding’ rated British primary and secondary school campus in Abu Dhabi.

On Yas Island, where Aldar is launching and developing a range of new community developments, Aldar Education will deliver a new school within the Noya community located in Yas North. The British curriculum school will be operated by Aldar Academies.

On Saadiyat Island, Aldar Education is expanding the award-winning and ‘outstanding’ rated Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, which will increase the school’s capacity and facilities. Aldar will also develop another school under the Aldar Academies brand on Saadiyat Island that will cater to families in the surrounding communities that seek British curriculum education.

“Aldar Education is one of our most critical touch points with the community and we want to ensure that more families can benefit from the quality, innovative education we offer in our schools. This latest investment will help us make notable progress in this direction and it also makes financial sense for a business that is of huge strategic importance to the group,” said Talal Al Dhiyebi, group CEO at Aldar Properties.

Sahar Cooper, CEO at Aldar Education, added, “The education sector is going through constant change and development, and we are keen to remain at the forefront of those developments. This includes the digital transformation of our schools, further investment in EdTech, and the provision of more flexible and diverse education models that appeal to a wider range of families in Abu Dhabi.”