Manipal plans to expand Antigua campus for $20 mn

Despite the economic slump which slowed down Manipal Educ-ation’s construction of campuses in Dubai and Jaipur by around six months, the education major has completed construction of its Antigua campus and is firming up plans to make a second phase of investment into it.

The education group has already invested $30 million (approximately Rs 138 crore) into the Antigua campus which will be inaugurated towards the end of October 2009. It is now drawing up plans to invest $20 million (around Rs 92 crore) in the next phase which will take place next year. The second phase of expansion will mainly be concerned with student housing.

 

Manipal plans to fund the investment with a combina-tion of debt and equity. In December 2008, Manipal acquired the entire shareholding of American Univ-ersity of Antigua (AUA). Presently, there are 1,200 students on the existing campus and the annual intake is around 750 students for its medical programme. The new campus has been built on a 15-acre plot in a prime location in Antigua.

Manipal Education is looking at the Antigua operations closely considering one-fourth of its gross revenues are set to come from the campus. Along with medicine, the new campus houses a nursing and a veterinary school. Its new international campus in Dubai is being built with an investment of $40 million (Rs 185 crore). Another new campus in the pipeline is at Jaipur which will be built at a cost of Rs 200-250 crore. Construction on the new camp-uses had slowed down due to the economic slump but is expected to be finished under the revised deadline extended by a few months.

“The campuses in Dubai and Jaipur are in the pipeline. The slowdown has ensured we assess market needs. However, we have continued work on them and are very much within the revised target dates of completion,” said Anand Sudarshan, MD and CEO of Manipal Education. He said the company was focusing on corporate education considering a growth of 25 per cent year-on-year growth was witnessed in this segment.

“After setting up the ICICI Manipal Academy which provides banking and insurance programmes for ICICI employees, we are seeing interest from many companies to follow the same model,” added Sudarshan.

Manipal Universal Learning (MUL) is the corporate entity of Manipal Education. MUL posted gross revenues of Rs 803 crore (Rs 372 crore from domestic operations and Rs 431 crore from international operations) for FY09.