DMC Education Ltd has acquired 51 per cent stake in Delhi-based training institute Lifelong Finishing Academy for an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore, according to a company disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
BSE-listed DMC Education (formerly known as DMC International) has diversified from its original real estate business and aggressively explored the education space – snapping up small firms to build its presence in the sunrise sector. It currently provides training for various entrance examinations and plans to establish a strong footprint in the supplemental education space.
Lifelong Finishing Academy offers training courses on personal grooming, art of cooking, holistic living, etiquette, and home & financial management.
Post-acquisition, DMC plans to take Lifelong’s personal grooming courses pan India and open more than 100 centres in the next two-three years. These new centres will also offer career guidance to applicants.
The shares of DMC Education were trading at Rs 9.41 per unit on the BSE at 2.10 pm, down 1.77 per cent from the previous close.
The market for supplemental education is estimated at Rs 8,000 crore and growing at a rate of 16-25 per cent, according to Anuj Ahuja, CEO of DMC Education. An estimated break-up values engineering tutorials at Rs 4,000 crore, medicine tutorials at Rs 2,000 crore, IAS training at Rs 300 crore and MBA training at Rs 500 crore. The remaining is shared by various other segments.
In May this year, DMC Education had acquired Kolkata-based education consulting firm Plansteps for a consideration of $1 million (Rs 4.5 crore) in a bid to expand the career counselling business across the country. The acquisition would enable DMC to leverage Plansteps’ established network in the North-East, Nepal and Bhutan.
Earlier, DMC had acquired Mumbai-based VSoft Services Pvt Ltd – an IT company developing bilingual software for the Indian market. It also entered into a debenture subscription agreement with D.B. Corp Ltd in June this year and raised Rs 2.67 crore.