GCN has finalized the sale of University of Sao Judas Tadeu for R$320 million, pending approval by CADE.

Anima group buys University of São Judas Tadeu for R$ 320 million. This
acquisition marks the group’s entry into the highly competitive education sector: the city of São Paulo

04.10.2014 | 18:10
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Naiana Oscar , The state of S. Paulo – Updated at 21.35
After many ups and downs, almost four years negotiating with competitors and investment funds, the University of São Judas Tadeu, a renowned institution in the São Paulo state capital, has changed hands. The company, founded by the Mesquita family in the Mooca neighbourhood in 1947, was sold to the Anima Group , for R$ 320 million. This marks the first acquisition of São Judas after its IPO in October last year. The IPO had raised R$ 468 million . The purchase must be approved by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) .

But it is not merely doing business to be symbolic for Anima. The acquisition of São Judas, with 25,800 students in 35 programs, marks the group’s entry into the competitive education sector of the city São Paulo. The city of São Paulo has 759,000 students enrolled in private institutions of higher learning. This is more than the entire state of Minas Gerais, which has 446,000 students. “It’s definitely a milestone. We wanted to be part of the biggest education market in the country ,” says Marcelo Bueno Battistela, vice president of Anima .

Negotiations with the Mesquita family began in the month following the IPO. This was not a simple business matter to materialize, as the offer needed to convince the two sons of the founder, one daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. “We received many offers since we decided to sell the company, but none of them were agreeable with what we were offering on a financial level,” says José Reinaldo Mesquita 49, a grandson of the founder Alberto Mesquita de Camargo and rector of São Judas – a position which he will continue to serve under the direction of the new owners.

“Anima paid dearly but it gained one of the most coveted schools in the country”, says Carlos Monteiro, a consultant specializing in education. Considering that São Judas was sold with a cash position of R$ 9.8 million, the Anima group disbursed R$12 000 per student . In August last year , Laureate disbursed R$14,700 per student for São Paulo FMU University. The following month, to stay with Uniseb, Estacio paid out R$ 16 200 per student .

“We bought a well-rounded company, one which has been doing very well and has been growing over the years ,” explains Battistela. São Judas earned R$ 182.8 million last year and reported an operating profit of R$ 32.2 million. According to the Ministry of Education (MEC), the institution’s index of academic quality was 2.79 in 2012 – on a scale from 1 to 5.

Executives at Anima explain that their marketing strategy is not driven by growth to gain scale, but by the quality of teaching – allowing them to charge more expensive fees. The average amount paid by the students of São Judas is R$ 955. In comparison, The Anhanguera School had an average student fee of R$ 341.8 last year .

The partners of Anima want to create an institution that is not only focused on higher education for the class C population, but to expand its undergraduate and graduate programs.

The Anima group owns universities Una UNIBH of Belo Horizonte and Unimonte of Santos. The Anima group also has a 50 % stake in HSM, a corporate education institution whose other owner is the RBS Group.

IPO. Anima group’s course of action towards the stock market was initiated in April 2012, by economist Paulo Guedes, when his company BR Investimentos bought a third of the shares for R$ 100 million, ending a dispute between minority share holders which had lasted nearly a decade . After entering the company’s capital, Guedes, founder of Ibmec and Bank Pactual, managed to buy out four shareholders, who had been fighting in court with other shareholders over the direction of the company.

After the disputes had been resolved, the company deliberated its growth. The group owns institutions in 42 cities. In São Paulo, the goal is to expand the campuses of São Judas and open new units under the same brand. “The education sector is evolving so that individual colleges will be difficult to operate alone, you need them to be part of a group,” said Anima president Daniel Castanho.