GFH Capital, a subsidiary of Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group, has announced a key investment in AMA Group, one of the largest educational institutions in Asia, for its growing operations in the kingdom and beyond.

It will be made in the form of a Shari’a compliant convertible Murabaha facility, said a statement from the company.

The AMA’s educational operations cover basic education from pre-schools to Grade 12 to post-secondary training to collegiate and university programs and post-graduate degrees. It spans across the globe from the Philippines to Hong Kong, Macau, Xiamen in China to Nigeria to Oman, Iraq, Jeddah and in Bahrain in the Gulf region.

The group also has various other business interests ranging from information technology, banking, real estate and agriculture.

AMA operates an international university and a school and a training institute in Bahrain.

The AMA University, the largest private university in the kingdom, was established in 2002 and offers undergraduate and graduate programmes in the fields of finance and business administration, computer science and mechatronics engineering.

The university has the distinction of being the first and only ABET accredited private university in the kingdom. ABET is the leading global accrediting body in applied sciences, engineering, computing and technology with accreditors from Harvard, MIT and similar institutions.

AMA International School, which started its operations in September 2004, is a leading K-12 learning facility. The school is the first in Bahrain to integrate robotics in the curriculum and has recently started offering the IB Diploma Program with the approval of the IB World School.

The School incorporates an American and Cambridge curriculum paths and this is further enhanced by the world-renowned Great Explorations in Mathematics and Science (“GEMS) programme of the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley.

On the investment, Hisham Alrayes, the managing director of GFH Capital, said: "We are delighted to announce the investment in AMA. The Group has built its reputation for excellence and the continued growth of its various businesses, particularly in the field of education, is a testament to the group's commitment to quality and the growth prospects for this investment."

“In addition to supporting GFH’s ongoing efforts to develop strong income yielding opportunities for our shareholders and investors within the GCC region and in partner nations, we are also committed to investing in sectors that support growth and sustainable development in the region with education being a key focus,” noted Alrayes.

Dr Amable R. Aguiluz V, the Special Envoy of the Philippine President to the GCC and the founder-owner of AMA, said: "We look forward to working together with GFH and leveraging their investment experience and know-how in order to further expand our operations, including the delivery of world-class educational services."

"AMA has already established strong foundations and market recognition for excellence and we are confident that with GFH’s support, resources and networks, we will succeed in further raising the bar and our capacity to serve an ever growing clientele from both within Bahrain and the broader GCC and Mena regions, as well as the Philippines," he added.-TradeArabia News Service