Ashmore closes in on a third Riyadh school agreement as institutional money rolls up Saudi K-12

Ashmore Investment, Saudi Arabia’s Education Investment Fund, is closing a third Riyadh school agreement that would make it one of the capital’s largest private K-12 operators. The fund is targeting deployment of more than SAR 430 mn across three investments once the pending transaction, Project Grow, is completed, CEO and Managing Director Ahmed Al Mohaisen tells EnterpriseAM. The platform is aiming for a capacity of more than 15.5k students in the coming academic year, with almost half of those seats added through expansion under Ashmore’s ownership.

The fund is built by acquisition and brownfield expansion rather than new builds. Its first agreement was Al Nobala Schools in Riyadh in July 2025, followed in April by Project Oasis, which brought in Matrix International Schools and Wahat Al Alson School in the city’s east. Successful education investing “is not about acquiring schools. It is about partnering with founders, strengthening institutions, and expanding proven operators," Al Mohaisen says.

Ashmore wants to partner with five or more operators across national and international curricula and has used the same playbook to grow a full Al Salam campus into a purpose-built Al Manar site — which enrolled more than 1.8k students in its first year.

Why it matters

The market is growing exponentially: Mindspire, EFG Hermes’ K-12 education arm, plans to grow to at least 15 schools in Saudi Arabia within three years, targeting three to four additions by next year alone. Rikaz will also set up an investment fund alongside First Avenue, AlMajdiah and SNB Capital will develop new schools and refurbish existing ones. Meanwhile, Al Masar Al Shamil Education inked an MoU to acquire 60% of Al Qalam Educational Trading.

Ashmore frames the sector’s constraint as execution, not demand. “The biggest challenge is scaling successfully while maintaining educational quality,” Al Mohaisen says, adding that Ashmore’s wager is on the mid-tuition segment, where it argues demand outstrips supply and brownfield expansion lets proven operators add capacity faster and cheaper than greenfield builds.

What’s next: Ashmore aims to list the platform on Tadawul before the fund’s lifecycle ends, subject to market and regulatory conditions. The objective is “to build businesses that are capable of listing” on governance and sustainable growth, Al Mohaisen says. Project Grow’s completion is the near-term marker.