2014-05-20
MANILA, Philippines STI Holdings today said it expects to open three newly constructed colleges in key parts of the country, to add up to its already vast network of 85 schools including two universities and three non-STI branded schools, ready to accommodate thousands of students for the coming school year.
Mr. Monico V. Jacob, STI Holdings President, said STI Education Services Group (ESG), which operates STI schools, reported that construction of new campuses in Cubao, Calamba, and Batangas are on their finishing stages. They are, in fact, accepting students in time for the school opening next month.
The campuses in Cubao and Calamba will have newly constructed buildings. The school in Batangas is also undergoing a major renovation. The improvements we are doing are meant to both offer better facilities and to accommodate more students,he said.
Early this year, STI Holdings also announced the completion of another new school in Caloocan. Just recently, STI inaugurated its biggest school yet in Ortigas-Cainta in a sprawling 3.9-hectare property, which now houses a campus and the STI ESG headquarters.
Mr. Jacob added that STI ESG expects to inaugurate another campus this year in Lucena just a few months after construction broke ground last January.
The new schools being opened by STI are major components of the P5-billion expansion program, which in essence is being rolled out to construct new campuses and acquire new schools all over the country.
STI's expansion program is mostly fuelled by STI Holdings successful follow on offering in the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2012, which enabled the publicly-listed company to raise P2.6 billion. Last March, the company also disclosed that it signed a corporate notes facility agreement with China Bank worth P3 billion.
These are very exciting times for STI Holdings. The Philippines has one of the youngest populations in the world and the demand for quality and accessible education grows each year. Our expansion program is designed to respond to this huge market, Mr. Jacob said.
Apart from the STI ESG-managed schools, STI Holdings also either owns or has a stake in two other universities in the country. The company has, for instance, invested in UNLAD Resources Development Corporation which, in turn, manages the Philippine Women's University (PWU) network of schools.
Last October, STI Holdings also announced the acquisition of West Negros University in Bacolod, one of the largest schools in the booming Panay Region. In the same month, PWU also acquired 100 percent of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Makati Medical Center College, Inc. (MMCCI) from Medical Doctors, Inc.
Apart from these, Mr. Jacob said the STI Holdings is on the lookout for colleges and universities which it can add to its network through mergers or acquisitions.
We are looking for opportunities to expanding our network and diversify our academic programs. We have our core courses in STI. But even at STI, we are diversifying. We used to be a vocational-technical school; now we are a full-blown college offering baccalaureate courses. We've started diversifying from IT, computer science. Now we have tourism, accounting technology, business, HRM, engineering, he said.
