Yuchengco, Ayala Group merging education units

MANILA, Philippines — Affordable Private Education Center Schools (APEC) and the National Teachers College (NTC) are merging to create an education powerhouse.

In disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday, Ayala Corp. and iPeople said the respective boards and shareholders of both schools approved the planned merger.

The planned merger will result in the creation of an educational institution with over 24,000 students in K-12, college and graduate school, Ayala Corp. said.

Fred Ayala, chairman of both NTC and APEC said the planned merger would allow them to better achieve their goal of transforming lives through innovative education at affordable prices.

“Our high school students will benefit from the combination of NTC’s national reputation and 94-year track record of excellence in teaching, with APEC’s progressive teaching methods and focus on being educators of the digital future,” Ayala said.

NTC executive vice president Pam Wu said NTC would learn from APEC’s modern approach, including its specialization in highly engaging blended learning.”

“The planned merger will be a big plus for our students who will now have a clear pathway to college with one of the leading higher education institutions in the University Belt” said Joie Lopez, APEC chief executive officer.

Both schools are 100 percent-owned by iPeople Inc., the joint venture of the Yuchengco Group of Companies and Ayala Corp.

The Yuchengco-owned House of Investments and Ayala Corp. own 51 percent and 33.5 percent of iPeople, respectively.

iPeople has approximately 60,000 students in seven schools, including Mapúa University.

The planned merger is still subject to the filing of the relevant applications and obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals, including the endorsement of the Commission on Higher Education and Department of Education, and the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the merger application.

NTC was founded in 1928 and was the Philippines’ first Higher Education Institution to offer collegiate programs dedicated to teacher education.

It has partnered with industry leaders such as Google for Education and LinkedIn to help ensure the career readiness of its graduates.

New enrollment in School Year 2022 to 23 is up 24 percent since SY 2019 to 2020 or prior to the onset of the pandemic.

APEC Schools, for its part, was established in 2013 with the vision of providing quality private education affordable for Filipino high school students, and has scaled up to become the largest chain of private stand-alone high schools in the country.

It achieved 67 percent growth in new enrollees in SY 2022 to 2023 versus the prior year. APEC was one of the first high schools to offer a technology enabled educational curriculum and delivery.