Phinma aims to increase student enrollments
With help from its new investor, conglomerate Phinma Corp. is looking to grow its student network by 17 percent this year in a bid to increase access to education in the country.
Phinma president and chief operating officer Chito Salazar on Thursday said they wanted to have 192,000 students enrolled in the company’s schools this year, from its all-time high of 163,854 students in 2024, “through both organic and strategic expansions.”
According to Salazar, they plan to achieve this through the entry of global private equity firm KKR, which completed an initial investment of P2.52 billion into Phinma Education Holdings Inc. last October.
The initial remittance represented 70.22 percent of KKR’s P3.59-billion total investment to buy new shares in Phinma Education.
Last year, Phinma announced its entry into Cavite province after taking over St. Jude College (SJC) Dasmariñas for P432 million.
Phinma said the school would add around 3,000 students to its network. Phinma Education bought 30,750 shares for P2,764.23 each, representing a 94.62-percent stake in SJC Dasmariñas.
The company now has 10 schools in its Philippine network. Phinma has also expanded into Indonesia via a joint venture agreement with PTT Tripersada Global Manajemen to form PT Ind-Phil Management (IPM).
IPM currently manages Horizon University in Karawang and Kalbis University in Jakarta.
In the first quarter, Phinma logged a net income of P191.27 million, a 16.7-percent decline, as its construction and property units continued to bleed.
