MAIN Market listed Industronics Bhd has inked an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in 5T3M Sdn Bhd, an associate company of Eduspec Holdings Bhd, for RM1 mil as part of its venture into the education industry.
5T3M is Malaysia’s first stem-based edutainment centre and academy while Eduspec has been a leading provider of integrated education services involving innovation and education technology for schools since 1984.
The acquisition represents a further extension of the collaboration between Industronics and EHB following a memorandum of agreement signed to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company to offer electronic hardware and school equipment to over 10,000 schools in Malaysia.
“We view the education industry as another key sector that will offer strong growth opportunities for us. The acquisition of 5T3M marks our first investment into the education business,” commented Industronics’ executive director Datuk Chu Boon Tiong.
Following the acquisition of 5T3M, the group will set up an SPV known as Advance Education.
Having built and provided end-to-end solutions to public and private schools in Malaysia by serving more than 300 schools with 800,000 registered parents and students under its ecosystem, Advance Education targets to train and produce talents for the requirement of future jobs.
As Malaysia competes with other countries in the region to be a high-technology manufacturing hub, it is vital to train high-skilled workers and talents, according to Chu.
The lack of local schools and institutions to meet this demand put Advance Education in a strong position to be the leading player as an education service provider.
Aside from that, 5T3M will invest another RM50 mil over the next three years to strengthen its Advance Education ecosystem, including training and investment into artificial intelligence (AI) technology, blockchain and data technology to future-proof its advanced education programme.
“The investment into the Advance Education ecosystem over the next three years will continue to put us at the forefront of the education industry,” envisages Chu. “As we have seen over the last decade, the advancement of technology has disrupted various industries.”
He added: “Technological advancement has accelerated rapidly from online shopping, blockchain technology and AI to metaverse. This makes it even more important for education advance programmes to meet this new training demand for the future of work.”
At 11.20am, Industronics was up 1 sen or 12.5% to 9 sen with 4.25 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM39 mil. – Nov 4, 2022
