BalancED is setting up a K-12 international school in Madinet Nasr Housing and Development’s (MNHD) Taj City in East Cairo at an investment cost of EGP 500 mn, Business Development Director Ali Bakry told us. Under an agreement with MNHD, BalancED will purchase land in the residential compound to set up a branch of Asten College, which will be owned, managed and operated by the education company, Bakry said.

Palm Hills out, Madinet Nasr in: The school was originally been planned to be set up in partnership with Palm Hills Development, but talks that began in 2017 later broke down.

The company is planning to invest EGP 1.2 bn by 4Q2021, most of which will be deployed in the flagship school and an acquisition of an existing unnamed school expected to close in September, Bakry said. The remainder, less than 10%, will be used to fund collaborations to host seminars and education and training programs with each of Vodafone Egypt’s CSR arm, leadership training company FranklinCovey, and the University of Indiana.

Where’s the money coming from? The company plans to finance the new big-ticket investments through a mixture of self-financing (40%), bank loans (35%), and raising equity (25%), Bakry said.