Morgan Stanley PE, Banyan Tree back education firm Nspira

Nspira Management Services, an education services provider, has raised $75 million from Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia and Banyan Tree Growth Capital II.

As part of the current transaction, a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia has invested about $67 million of primary capital into the company for a minority stake. The process will be used to fund the organic and inorganic growth plans of the company.

Nspira currently offers its services to over 500 educational institutions with a student base of close to 400,000 across

13 states in India. The company also offers space for coaching services for medical and engineering competitive examinations.

Puneet Kothapa, managing director of Nspira, said that the money will be deployed to expand business geographically, increase the client base, develop education products, modernise the facilities and scale up company’s digital business.

“We will also evaluate inorganic opportunities that are synergistic with our core business. This will help us diversify our offerings,” he said.

Nirav Mehta, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in India, said, “Education services is one of the core focus sectors for MSPEA across Asia. We believe private education in India is poised for a strong growth, driven by the large demand-supply gap for quality education as well as by increasing disposable incomes and urbanisation. Nspira is a leading player in the sector and has been instrumental in supporting the delivery of quality education to the masses at affordable prices. We are excited to be partnering with Nspira in its journey ahead.”

This is the second round of fund raising by Nspira after it raised around $ 60 million structured debt in 2016 from Olympus Capital Asia Credit & CX Partners.

Nspira currently offers its services to over 500 educational institutions with a student base of close to 400,000 across 13 states in India