According to reports from Mint, Lighthouse Learning is in the process of acquiring Hyderabad-based Meru International School and Bengaluru-based Millennium World School for a total consideration of about ₹600 crore. The Hyderabad chain is being acquired for approximately ₹450-500 crore while the Bengaluru-based chain is being bought for about ₹100 crore. This acquisition is part of Lighthouse's efforts to consolidate and scale up its educational platform, backed by investors such as KKR and PSP Investments. The deal comes amid a broader shift in investor focus from edtech to organised school chains, with recent transactions including Vitruvian Partners' investment of ₹1,159 crore to acquire Peak XV Partners' stake in K12 Techno Services, valuing the Orchids International Schools operator at around ₹7,200 crore.
As reported by Mint, Meru International School is founded by Meghana Gorukanti Jupally and is an educational venture of the Hyderabad-based My Home Group, which has a diversified portfolio spanning cement and power. The school has a revenue of about ₹110 crore with a profit of ₹50 crore. Millennium World School has already been acquired by EuroSchool, which Lighthouse Learning operates, according to its official website. Lighthouse declined to comment while emails sent to Meru International and Millennium did not elicit a response by the time of publishing.
According to reports from Mint, there is rising interest in school chains as a resilient asset class, with investors betting that brick-and-mortar K-12 education offers predictable cash flows and long-term demand. Earlier this month, The Times of India reported that Pathways School in Gurugram was being acquired by Lighthouse Learning Group for about ₹1,500 crore. Several private equity firms are in talks to buy stakes in K-12 assets, which is expected to translate into several transactions this year. The transactions have sparked fresh interest in an industry that, until a few years ago, was considered too fragmented and tightly regulated for institutional investors. As per Business Standard, private equity firms have traditionally backed businesses offering predictable demand and room to scale, and physical schools are now beginning to fit that description.
According to CBRE's Industry Report on the K-12 Education and Student Accommodation Sector in India, India has the world's largest education-seeking population, with around 508 million people aged 3 to 23. More than 248 million students are enrolled in nearly 1.47 million schools, making it the world's largest K-12 education system. As household incomes rise, more families are willing to pay for better infrastructure, international curricula, technology-enabled classrooms, sports facilities and extracurricular programmes. The biggest opportunity lies in the premium segment, with nearly 28.2 million Indian households able to afford annual school fees of more than ₹1 lakh, yet only about 7.9 million students are currently enrolled in premium schools. Premium schools typically command stronger pricing power and attract parents willing to pay for differentiated offerings such as international curricula, robotics labs, and personalised learning.
According to Mint reports, Lighthouse Learning, set up in 1997, offers education in the pre-primary and K-12 segments across India. The group operates through core brands including Eurokids, Kangaroo Kids and Mother's Pet in the pre-school segment and EuroSchool, Billabong High, Centre Point, and Heritage in the K-12 segment. It now has over 1,850 preschools and 60 K-12 schools, serving more than 190,000 students across major metros. Last year, global private equity firm KKR made a fresh investment in the company, along with new investor PSP Investments, while Lighthouse reported revenue of ₹802.51 crore in FY25 compared with ₹632.48 crore a year earlier. Its net profit fell to ₹8.12 crore from ₹186.01 crore in FY24, according to filings sourced by Tofler from the ministry of corporate affairs.
