Esprit School of Engineering, a privately held Tunisian IT engineering and business school, is considering opening campuses in West Africa and seeking a new strategic investor through the sale of a 30% stake in the company, said Esprit founding member and director Mohamed Naceur Ammar. Africinvest serves as a feeder private equity firm of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Ammar valued Esprit – including its considerable real estate in the Technology Park of Tunis – at between US$100 million and $200 million. India’s largest private university group, New Delhi-based Amity Education Group, which operates Amity University, has also expressed interest in entering the Tunisian higher education market. The country also benefits from billions in project finance, loan guarantees and political risk insurance by multilateral agencies such as OPIC, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Source: The North Africa Journal March 20, 2018 18:11 UTC