Nord Anglia, the British international private education group, acquired Mont’Kiara International School in Kuala Lumpur, its 90th school worldwide, for Malaysia’s expatriate and middle-class families. The school, founded in 1994, charges $32,000 annually in senior school fees. Nord Anglia now operates two schools in Kuala Lumpur and is valued at $14.5bn from a private equity transaction two years ago.

The global international private school market generates about $69bn in fee income, driven by demand for British and American education. As Tristan Bunnell of the University of Bath notes, “British education has a lot of cultural capital and symbolism for the global middle class, partly thanks to Harry Potter.” Nord Anglia, founded in 1972, expanded abroad after launching a school in Shanghai in 2002, with its Dubai campus growing from 500 to 3,200 students since 2014. CEO Andrew Fitzmaurice describes international education as “incredibly fragmented.

It is a mom and pop industry,” creating acquisition opportunities as founders retire. The group focuses on growth through expansion, not cost-cutting, and is now turning attention to Latin America amid slowing demand in China and Gulf volatility.