Multi opens classes of Portuguese and mathematics
Valor Econômico
Multi Group, owner of the language schools Wizard and Yázigi, among others, is investing in a new area. This semester, the schools of the group begins to offer courses of Portuguese and mathematics. "We believe that, in the first year of activities, we will have 100 thousand new enrolments in these courses", said Carlos Martinez, founder and president of Multi. "We have in the entire group, 1 million of students and found, through a survey, that 20% of this total may be interested in classes of Portuguese and mathematics", said Martin, who started his business 23 years ago with an English school.
According to the executive, the company will focus on two fronts this year. One is the new courses whose monthly fees will range from R$ 130 (US$ 76.5) to R$ 200 (US$ 117.7), according to the area of the school. The idea is to attract an audience between eight and 16 years old. "There is a great deficiency in Portuguese and mathematics, mainly for students of the public education system. This deficiency will accumulate and reflects negatively on subjects such as physics and chemistry, for example", he said.
The group also aims to acquire a company of education system (notes) - a segment that in 2010 attracted large groups as Pearson and Abril Educação, which bought the education system of SEB and Anglo, respectively. The resources for the purchase of the education system will come from the investment of R$ 200 million (US$ 117.7 million) made by Kinea, private equity fund of Itaú, which acquired 20% of Multi last year. "We want to diversify our activities. Therefore, we seek a network that meets primary and secondary education", said Martins. The last acquisition was Yázigi, traditional languages network sold in November for the Multi Group for R$ 100 million (US$ 58.8 million).
Martins expects to close 2011 with a 25% increase in revenue, which totaled R$ 2.3 billion (US$ 1.3 billion) last year. This growth will be the result of the opening of new franchises, acquisitions and the entry into the segment of Portuguese and mathematics classes. The group foresees the opening of 350 new franchises until December. Today, the company has 3.5 thousand units of nine flags of language schools and professional training courses. The attention is directed to cities with fewer than 50 thousand inhabitants and class C.