Canada’s LaSalle College Buys Morocco’s HEM Education Group

LaSalle College Inc has bought a 85% stake in Moroccan business and vocational training group HEM amid growing demand in the North African nation’s private education sector.

* “The legal documentation for the deal has taken effect,” says Mehdi Alami, a spokesman for Ascent Capital Partners, which acted as legal adviser for the deal

* Transaction amount not disclosed; HEM founder Abdelali Benamour and World Bank’s IFC sold stakes to LCI Education; Benamour to retain 15% stake and remain chairman

* Benamour did not return calls seeking comment

* For LCI Education, HEM will help its ambition to “become largest” worldwide network of higher learning institutes

* NOTE: Morocco has the highest private schooling penetration in the North Africa region; trend is fueled by decades of deterioration in the public education system. Source: Bloomberg