Mediterrania Capital Partners, the regional Private Equity firm focusing on growth investments for companies in North African and Sub-Saharan countries, announced the acquisition through its second fund, Mediterrania Capital II, of a stake in Université Privée de Marrakech (UPM) to support its development plan, under execution since Development Partners International (“DPI”) entered the capital of UPM in March 2014.

Mr. Daniel Viñas, the Partner in charge of the transaction on behalf of Mediterrania Capital, commented: “The recent demographic transition and urbanisation of the population together with various government plans has helped create a favourable environment for an improved education system in Morocco. We believe it is the right time for Mediterrania Capital to enter the education market, and UPM, with its highly reputed programmes and faculty members and modern facilities, is the ideal partner to do so successfully. We are proud to have the opportunity to support UPM’s committed shareholders in deploying their ambitious development plans.”

Mr. Sofiane Lahmar, Partner at DPI, commented: “We strongly believe in the growth story of the higher education sector in Africa and are very optimistic about UPM’s prospects in Morocco and West Africa. We look forward to continuing our active involvement and strong partnership with Mr. Kabbadj and UPM’s management to execute on the ambitious expansion plans and welcome Mediterrania Capital Partners to our partnership and shareholder base.”

With this additional investment, Mediterrania Capital II, led by Mr. Albert Alsina, continues to expand into new sectors. UPM is the seventh investment in the Maghreb region, after investments in retail clothing (BS Invest), money transfer services (Cash Plus), truck manufacturing (C.E.C.I.), car rental services (Cieptal Cars), pasta production and distribution (Randa), and Information & Communication Technologies (Medtech Group).