KUALA LUMPUR: University of Nottingham’s Malaysian owners are weighing a sale that could value the education provider at about RM500 million (US$123 million), according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Boustead Holdings Bhd, which has interests in finance, plantations and properties, is working with an adviser on the planned sale of its majority stake in the offshore campus of the British university, said the people who asked not to be identified as the process is private.
They said YTL Corp, which also holds a stake in the learning institution, may tag along in the exit.
Boustead owns about 66% of the university, while YTL and University of Nottingham hold approximately 4% and 30%, respectively, they said.
The partnership among the three parties was formally announced in 1998 following an invitation from the education ministry to establish an overseas campus. University of Nottingham, among the first branch campuses of British universities established outside of the UK, welcomed its first students in September 2000.
The university has a 50 ha campus in Semenyih, about 30km from Kuala Lumpur, as well as a teaching site in the country’s capital. The education centre, which offers foundation level courses through doctoral degrees, has about 5,000 students from more than 85 countries.
Deliberations are still early and there is no certainty that Boustead and YTL will proceed with the deal, the people said.
YTL executive chairman Francis Yeoh declined to comment, while representatives for Boustead and University of Nottingham Malaysia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.