Owners of University of Nottingham Malaysia Sdn Bhd are considering selling the British educational institute located in Semenyih, Selangor for about RM500 million
Quoting people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported that Boustead Holdings Bhd is in talks to sell the education provider, while YTL Corp may tag along in the exit.
Boustead Holdings Bhd is a Malaysian conglomerate involved in plantation, property, pharmaceutical, and finance, among other industries with a traceable British origin back in the 1820s.
66% of the University of Nottingham Malaysia is owned by Boustead, while YTL owns 4%. The remaining 30% is owned by the University of Nottingham in the UK, said the sources.
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Discussions to sell the university are still in the early stages and there is no certainty that Boustead and YTL will proceed with the deal, according to the sources
When Bloomberg reached out to the companies, YTL executive chairman Francis Yeoh remained mum, while Boustead and the University of Nottingham Malaysia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Over on the University of Nottingham Malaysia’s Facebook page, things seem to be as usual with the university promoting a virtual fair to invite new students to enroll in their courses beginning in February next year.
The University of Nottingham Malaysia first opened its doors to students in 2000 after the Ministry of Education invited international educational institutions to establish a campus in the country
Students moved to its 101-acre campus in Semenyih in 2005, seven years after Boustead, YTL, and the University of Nottingham formally announced their plans to open up the British university outside of the UK.
Today, the campus has grown to 125 acres with 5,000 students from more than 85 different countries.
The university is located 30km away from Kuala Lumpur and it offers foundation-level courses up to doctoral degrees.
University of Nottingham in the UK is among the top 1% universities in the world.
While there is no data on where its Malaysian counterpart ranks, the campus in the country was once awarded a five-star rating for the quality of its research and innovation, making it the highest-rated international university in Malaysia in the Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRA).