Mediterrania Capital Partners has acquired through its second fund, Mediterrania Capital II, a stake in Université Privée de Marrakech (UPM) to support its development plan.

Launched in 2005 by Mohamed Kabbadj, UPM is today one of the leading private universities in Morocco.

It operates through UPM Pédagogique on a 32-hectare campus with a capacity for over 6,000 students, UPM Executive on two campuses based in Marrakech and Agadir, and UPM International, which owns UPM Senegal and SCIMD College of Medicine in Senegal and is currently evaluating its expansion into other African countries.

Altogether, UPM offers more than 60 MBAs, Masters and PhDs in French and English from BAC+3 to BAC+9 covering most fields of study proposed at the higher education level including Management & Governance, Engineering & Innovation, Health Sciences, Tourism & Hotel Management, Digital Marketing, Sport, and Art, Culture, Media & Audio-visual programmes.

In addition, the university also manages a Research Centre and an R&D division led by professors with advanced knowledge in their respective fields, contributing to the development of new educational contents and approaches.

Over the years, UPM has built up a strong network of academic and corporate partners and hosts several campuses of European leading universities, enabling it to offer international academic exchanges and internships to its students.

In Morocco and across the North Africa region, the sizeable school-age population, the expansion of the middle class coupled with greater household expenditure levels, and the increased desire for higher quality schools among parents mean that consumer spending on education is growing every year and shows very strong prospects.

Daniel Viñas, the Partner in charge of the transaction on behalf of Mediterrania Capital, said: “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,” he said.

Mediterrania Capital Partners, led by Albert Alsina, is the regional private equity firm, focusing on growth investments for companies in North African and Sub-Saharan countries.

With this additional investment, Mediterrania Capital II 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).