STI: PSBA acquisition prompted by changing education landscape
STI Education Systems Holdings Inc. is confident that its planned acquisition of the Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA) will not only expand its network but also boost entrepreneurship education in the country.
In a filing on Friday, the company said that the acquisition of PSBA was in line with a commitment to increase its educational portfolio and provide quality education.
The STI board on February 27 approved the execution of a term sheet agreement for the takeover of PSBA’s operations as well as the latter’s owned licenses, trademarks, trade names, and school-related assets.
“We are now seeing how the landscape of employment evolves,” Monico Jacob, the company’s president, said in a statement.
Citing a study by affiliate PhilCare,
Jacob said that more Filipino Gen Zs — individuals ages about 11 to 26 — were now more interested in entrepreneurship rather than traditional corporate career paths.
“It makes sense that education must evolve as well. The acquisition is a significant step in this direction for the company,” Jacob added.
China Bank Capital Corp. Managing Director Juan Paolo Colet said the planned transaction demonstrated STI Holdings’“strong conviction about the promising growth opportunities in business and entrepreneurship education.”
“This is also in line with trends abroad, where we are seeing more educational offerings on entrepreneurship,” the analyst said.
“It is very likely that STI will significantly enhance and expand the PSBA platform to offer innovative programs, such as courses on startups, that appeal to a new generation of students and potential business-builders.”
The Tanco-led STI currently operates three subsidiaries: STI Education Services Group, STI West Negros University, and iAcademy.
In the six months ended December 2023, STI Holdings saw its net income surge 132 percent year on year to
P517.8 million, while gross revenues grew 36 percent to P2.0 billion from P1.4 billion.
The growth was attributed to higher overall student enrollment, rising to almost 120,000 for the school year 2023-2024 from the 94,312 enrollees recorded in the preceding year.
STI Holdings’ share price dipped by a centavo, or 1.33 percent, to 74 centavos on Friday.